The Status Quo
by ccs4ever
Summary: The begining to another fine day for Xellos and Filia starts with a short game, a chase, and a mace, and ends in murder and kidnapping, what secrets is Xellos hiding? Can what is lost be regained?
1. Chapter One: The State of Things

Disclaimer: I do not own slayers or any other items related to the slayers world. This fanfiction is purely for fun and my belief in the xel/filia pairing among others.^^Gomen I haven't written anything in years so I am very rusty ^^

The story takes place after Try so to understand whats going on you should probably have seen some of it, at least enough to know filia and xellos. :) enjoy the show

The Status Quo

Chapter One: The State of Things

The sun had just begun its accent across the sky. Its palest light traversing its way through the many windows of the Mace and Vase shop, home and workplace of a particular dragon. This dragon has the distinction of being a Gold, the last of her clan, and the stepmother to the world's last remaining Ancient Dragon. 

The house/shop consists of a lower floor, which contains the shop portion in the front and a kitchen in the back, and an upper portion which contains the nursery, a bathroom, and three bedrooms the largest of which being Filia's. It is on this particular floor that our story begins...

The floorboards of the nursery creaked slightly as a pair of feet slowly crept toward baby Val's crib. The sunlight that was now just creeping into the room shone on the smiling face of a certain purple haired, amber eyed, Mazoku as he reached the crib. His smile widened as he gazed down on the prone form of the baby who was quietly dozing, wrapped securely in a blanket. 

Xellos leaned his staff against the crib having it phase into the astral plane so he could easily call upon it later, he reached into the crib and gently removed the child from his crib. Val stared at Xellos's jovial features through tired eyes before cooing slightly he snuggled against his familiar warmth as Xellos held him expertly with both hands. His soft footfalls were heard once more as he slowly exited the nursery and its colorful pale blue decor. 

He was halfway down the wooden stairway before a familiar voice was heard from the landing above, "Xellos, what are you doing with my baby?" her voice was full of untold malice. Xellos was temporarily rooted to the spot before turning swiftly, his hold on the child slightly more relaxed. 

"yare yare It would seem that I have been discovered, ohayo gozaimasu, Fi-chan" his voice on its usual jovial setting.

"Ohayo, to you to" her own smile widening as a menacing red aura flared around her and her grip on Mace-sama tightening. "I would suppose then that the game is over?" she stated taking a step toward Val who had chosen this moment to awaken fully and squeal with the exhilaration that had pent up in that moment, 

"No I don't think its quite over yet" Xellos smirked as his eyes opened and he disappeared in a flash of black energy. 

Filia ran down the stairs to find that he had reappeared near the front door and had proceeded to open it as she ran. Xellos ran a few yards ahead before lifting Val into the air as he ran around in circles like an idiot yelling, "IT'S MORNING, IT'S MORNING, TIME TO WAKE UP!" To which Val responded by squealing in excitement. Filia managed to catch up to him easily in this state appearing to draw the full weight of her mace as she brought it up and then struck it swiftly down. Xellos saw it coming long ago, he pulled Val back down from above his head and held him against his body like she knew he would. The sharp **Pang** of heavy metal on cranium was deafening. Xellos was scrunched down on the ground, holding out baby Val who thought this was the most interesting thing in the world. Xellos straightened up from that position before staring at Filia and smirking, "no one can give a Love Tap better than you, Fi-chan" 

Xellos handed a now blushing and snarling Filia her child before he put his hand to his ear as if trying to hear something from far away. Filia noticed this after she had calmed down, "Is it time for you to go again?"

"hai, duty calls" he said smiling as usual in his closed eyes fashion, "will you return anytime today?" she asked sounding tentative, 

"why Filia I didn't know you cared"

"I don't" she stated simply as she walked toward the door, when she reached it she turned her head to meet his gaze, "I just need to know how much tea I'll have to waste on you today" she said smiling slightly in her slight verbal victory before he disappeared in a wave of dark energy.

Zelas felt her servant's arrival as she stared into a screen in front of her. She waited, her back to her servant, she marveled in the flurry of thoughts that were freely exuding from him about what fun things he would do with Filia today. She couldn't help but smirk as she turned her throne around to face him, her expression now semi-serious, one of her many cigarettes blazing in her left hand that lay on the left arm of her throne. "Xellos..."

The Mazoku became instantly alert, going down on one knee, resting his reformed staff against his lowered head, "hai, my master" his voice was completely serious. "Can you tell me why a simple operation that you assured me could be completed in the span of a day has instead occupied your time for the better part of three months?" she asked her voice carrying no threat, just simple curiosity. Xellos knew from experience that this could be a very dangerous voice. He nevertheless felt the need to stand before answering, putting his hand behind his head as he spoke, "ah ha ha well you see, Zelas-sama, that first day turned out to be an inconvenient day which sort of through off the rest of the schedule" he said followed by another bout of nervous laughter.

"Is that so?" she paused before continuing, "what exactly was the source of this **inconvenience**?" 

"Well, I went to the house and I was looking for Filia..err the Golden Dragon when I proceeded to the nursery to find her there, only to discover that at that moment the Ancient Dragon egg was hatching, so it was kinda hard to stay in the murdering mood in that situation" 

"So instead you decided to help the young mother in her time of need"

"hai" 

"Which I would assume snowballed into this morning's display of fatherly affection" 

"heh?, what display would you be reffering too, Master?" he queried although he felt a strange burning sensation in his ears at the sudden thought of his earlier, "I, Xellos, am referring to this..." she stated coolly as she flipped a screen that was emanating from a reddish stone that was embedded into the floor to the right of her throne. Xellos could do nothing but squirm as the events of several minutes were played over again before his eyes. In retrospect, he had acted like a complete idiot. Although at the time it had seemed like a fun way of pissing of Filia, something that was best not shared with the rest of the pack. 

"I especially enjoyed the blushing Golden Dragon part" her master smirked before rising from her throne. She made her way down the six steps that separated her throne from the rest of the dark chamber and what lay beyond in her mountain home. Xellos gazed up at her, she being a good two feet taller than he was, as she dropped the cigarette to the ground stomping on it before continuing, "It would seem that I have given you too much freedom in this matter, and as punishment for your actions I have already distributed this lovely excerpt to every minion, servant, ward, and resident in my domain" Xellos shrunk down to the ground his face lighting in a bright red shade of embarrassment. 

She brought her left hand over toward her right side splaying her fingers, a red handle ornamented in gold and silver appeared followed by a blade which shone with a fierce dark aura. She brought the mighty short sword Remure the Dragon slaying blade to her front staring at Xellos through its shining aura. 

"Xellos" she raised her now stern voice, "I am bestowing upon you my highest priority order!" 

She swung the sword down stopping it centimeters away from Xellos's face,

"Slay the Golden Dragon!" she ordered slamming her sword point first too the ground just as one of the island's many storms released a mighty clap of thunder. New cracks were formed from the point in the once flawless stone floor.

Her voice carried absolute finality augmented by the presence of one of her mightiest weapons. Xellos lowered his head closing his eyes...

"hai, my master" 

Chapt. 1 end

Well I hope that was enjoyable so far, I'm kinda writing this on a psychotic whim right now and I know for the most part where its going for some period, but updates might be slow in coming. I hope to see some reviews out of this no matter how scathing in nature, I really do think Xel/Filia deserves a go...


	2. Chapter Two: What Mazoku Can Do part 1

The Status Quo

Chapter Two: What Mazoku Can Do 

part 1

Filia shut the door behind her with her foot as she carried the now fully awake and hungry Val past the rows of ornate pottery and deadly maces (kept on racks higher above to protect smallish hands). She couldn't help but smile and even began to hum a song as she prepared a formula for Val. Xellos's games and tricks that he would play on her had began as annoying and downright frightening, but now they seemed to have become almost amusing, though still annoying. She stifled a yawn as she began to feed Val, propping up on her knee she thought about the first time he had attempted the stunt he pulled earlier. It was several weeks ago, she had awoken from what little sleep she could get in the company of a child as young as Val to discover him missing from his crib. She frantically searched throughout the entire house turning over almost every piece of furniture she owned. It was only after this overflowing of surprise, fear, and panic that she noticed that Xellos was outside. She opened the front door to find Xellos sitting in a rocking chair beside a little table that held two cups of tea, feeding baby Val. She became instantly filled with righteous anger, bashing him on the head before another thing could be said. 

"Xellos must have really enjoyed that game" she thought because he attempted virtually the same thing eight times more on different days the following weeks until today. She had come to decide that if he wanted to feed off of her emotions that she should at least give him something to chew on. So as long as no harm came to her Val, and she knew that he would not do such a thing, she would express all the anger and frustration she felt inside. After the bottle was drained Filia walked back to the nursery, patting him softly on the back in case he had to burp along the way. She turned the rocking chair that was facing the eastern window around before sitting in it so that the sun would not be in her eyes before seating herself in it. She gently rocked back and forth cradling Val in her arms as feeding always made him drowsy again for a short period it was very convenient to have the chair right next to the crib. Singing something soothing always helped a baby to fall asleep, digest, or both so she began to search her mind for something suitable. It was then that unbidden she recalled a song made her stop rocking.

She had gone shopping nearly a month and a half ago and as a measure of last resort she enlisted the aid of Xellos in babysitting Val while she was gone. It was only a short while, but even so she was extremely apprehensive. 

"_If he gets hungry you have to feed him using a bottle and **this** formula" she explained irritatingly as she pointed toward the items,_

"_Hai Fi-chan"_

"_Then you have to pat him on the back very **softly** to help him burp if he has to"_

"_Hai Fi-chan" _

"_And if he messes his diaper you have to change it, do you know how to do that?!" _

"_Hai Fi-chan" _

"_I'll only be gone for an hour or two at the most so don't do anything bad while I'm gone, and if you hurt one hair on his head I'll kill you!"_

_She promptly slammed the door, a few seconds passed before the door slammed open, "And stop calling me Fi-chan!" she yelled in anger before slamming the door a final time, "Hai, Fi-chan" he said quietly with his trademark closed eyes smile, as baby Val cooed in his arms. _

She was so worried about Val in the care of that Mazoku that she couldn't even haggle properly and ended up paying a lot more for the wares she was purchasing, but she couldn't help it. She sped home as fast as she could, the cart full of various pottery and mace type items practically flew, until it came to a skidding dust filled stop at the entrance to her home. She ran as fast as she could inside, past the shop and into the kitchen she could find no sight of them, she thought abut screaming for the Mazoku to come out at the top of her lungs, but before she could she heard a noise coming from the nursery. She reached the top of the stairwell and simply stared into the nursery, there was Xellos rocking in the chair cradling a sleeping Val in his arms. She clutched the door frame as she heard the soft notes of a song that Xellos was singing

"_Somewhere in the world,_

_There is a Darkness beyond the Light, _

_Somewhere in the world, _

_There is a Light within the Dark, _

_Your heart will find them there,_

_It will know who they really are,_

_That they are the same, _

_That you may love them equally_

_Because you are..._

His voice had cut off at that moment, that soothing, kind, trusting voice that just seemed to radiate warmth, apparently because he noticed her presence there for the first time. When she pressed him about its origin he had blown her off with his usual, "sore wa himitsu desu" which had followed by the usual mace and grab Val maneuver. Filia completed singing what part of the song she had heard Xellos sing, she noticed how fast it seemed to put Val to sleep as she held his warm weight in her arms.

"I'll have to ask him what the rest of that song was one of these days" she spoke to herself quietly so as not to awaken Val as she placed him gently into his crib.

The day was passing slowly, uneventfully, so few customers came that day that several times Filia thought that she might have forgotten to flip the open sign on the door. She just sat lazily sipping her tea as late afternoon came on. She found herself wishing that Xel would show up just for the company. However, the Mazoku didn't return that afternoon like he usually managed to do, nor did he show up in the evening. Filia was on her 3rd cup of coffee and fourth Val related disturbance before she decided to go to bed feeling slightly depressed.

Filia awoke the next morning to bright sunlight streaming through an open window that was on the wall to the back of the headboard of her bed.

"This doesn't feel right" she thought, "Val should have woken me up earlier than this" a quick check of the clock to the left of her bed revealed that it was already 9:00AM in the now latish morning. If that was not startling enough of a revelation a familiar voice was heard to the left of her well rested yet still morning clogged brain. 

"Ohayo, Filia" said the voice until Filia turned her head to confirm it was him, then to lay back in bed, for a few moments then confirm it again with more of a shock. 

"Xellos what are you doing here?!" she half questioned half screamed hurrying to cover up what was already covered up by a decent set of pajamas. 

"I came to apologize" he said in his jovial manner pulling from either behind his back or from the astral plain a gorgeous bouquet of sunflowers. 

Birds swam in the sea, fish sunned themselves comfortably on sandy beaches, and porcupines played violins in the vastness of space, and now Xel was apologizing. 

"For me?" Filia could only question weakly,

"Hai"

Filia stared from the flowers she now held into her hand to Xellos's now slightly open eyes, "something isn't right here" was the only thing that came to mind.

"umm, thanks, though I'm not really sure what it is your apologizing for" she responded honestly as she got out of bed fixing her hair in a more presentable manner, 

Xellos straightened from his bent position, "Let's just say their payment for all the sleep you lost due to my fun"

Filia's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "this **really** doesn't seem right at all" she thought as she placed the flowers on a nearby table to decide what to do with them later, "this better not be some kind of sick game, Xellos" a hint of anger rising in her at the thought. She turned to face him once more. 

"So what happens now?" she asked him as he stood there on the other side of her bed staff in hand. Xellos scratched his chin in thought, "hmm, well Val hasn't had a bath in a little while, well besides that one time..." recalling that one inspired lake incident a little while back. Filia blushed slightly at the memory, "He hasn't so what about it?" she asked sounding protective, 

"I was thinking we could go to the hot springs together, I hear they're very good around here" he stated whimsically his eyes closed once more. Filia was slightly taken aback 

"why does he all of a sudden bring this up? What could his game possibly be this time?" 

"you mean like a family trip?" she asked sounding nonchalant as she became very interested in some of the sunflower pedals, 

"If you want to make it one" 

Filia's heart was pounding slightly faster now, she turned around to see Xellos's eyes were completely open, his expression seemed that of a slight smile. "I suppose if its just to give him a bath it would be fine considering today is a Saturday"

Xellos nodded as he phased out of the room, Filia smiled, "if I make it one" 

She dressed rather quickly taking a short period to brush her hair and dress in springtime light blue blouse and skirt combo. She was halfway down the stairs when she noticed Xellos standing in the kitchen wearing his usual shirt and pants, except now he was without his usual cape, gloves, staff, and amulets he usually had, it made a real difference in his look.

"Shall we go then?" he asked as he stood holding Val in a basket 

"sure"

They walked down the dusty path that went from the shop to the center of town and the hot springs a little further away all in one 2 mile stretch. The sun was shining brightly in the sky, the air was fresh and crisp, birds flew high in the sky, yes it was a gorgeous day. 

"Its such a beautiful day!" Filia couldn't help but exclaim as they casually walked among the wildflowers and grassland that her home was just skirting

"un" was Xellos's only reply

Filia turned to find that he was not staring at the beauty that was around them but rather at her, she quickly turned away feeling a blush creep up, "but I'm sure you much prefer the darkness since you are a Mazoku" she said quickly shaking her head the blush receding away,

Xellos smiled in contemplation as he altered his gaze back to the road, they were approaching a small grove of trees that temporarily blocked out the sun, "There are many enjoyable things that can be done in the nighttime, but to say that I like the night doesn't mean I don't equally enjoy the daytime, Filia" 

"oh, is that so?" Filia concluded with a slight chuckle as they excited the grove, the town was very small, its main street which they were now walking on covered only a few hundred feet, it petered off on one end to Filia's shop and the other end to a large expanse of hot springs. 

They reached the hot springs quickly marveling over its size, it was one large pool in the center with smaller pools circling it. At the center of the larger pool was a large rock as well as several other flat rocks on various other locations around the pool. There didn't appear to be anyone else there. "alright then" Xellos said putting down Val's basket, "I suppose I should go in first"

"alright"

"I trust you wont peek"

"Like I'd want to" Filia responded flustered as she turned around. She heard the sounds of Xellos taking off his shirt, pants, and shoes. The splashing of the water as he got in taking Val with him. 

"Alright Filia, I'm behind a rock" he called back at her from the spring, "alright then" was her response before removing her own blouse, skirt, and undergarments. The matter was decided on so quickly that she hadn't even thought about needing a towel. She turned to the hot spring, "yare yare Fi-chan I didn't know how grown up of a body you had" came the jovial shout from Xellos who had decided to hide behind one of the many flat rocks that still provided a great view. A surprised and enraged Filia could do little more than shout, "Damn you Xellos!" before hoping into the water to conceal herself. 

Xellos turned to Val who he held in the water, "your mommy really does have a nice figure, your very lucky" to this of course the baby squealed, Xellos smirked until a descent sized rock hit him square in the head, "and a good temper too" he added before cautiously moving to the far side of the larger rock.

"I can't believe he would remind me not to peek and then peek himself! He makes me so angry I could just bash him! If only I had my mace!" she fumed, "but wait a minute..." a mental image of Xellos moments ago filtered back into her mind, "yes that's him peeking at me, do I really need to be reminded of this embarrassment, mind?" _but his eyes were closed_ a little voice resounded in her head. Another look at the memory revealed that yes he wasn't looking, Filia was confused. 

"So what does that tell me exactly, that he was being considerate, or he just doesn't care" in an instant she felt the later must be true, however...

"He has been very considerate and downright helpful for some time now" she spoke softly into the water as she lay against the rock. Memories came to her of all the times he had been **there** even if it was just to annoy her by playing another one of his tricks like replacing her tea with coffee or drawing on the walls, or that time when he... kissed her on the cheek to apologize for uprooting her garden that meant so much to her. She shook her head shaking away the blush that had crept up, she sat up straighter against the rock as she calmly listened to the myriad of sounds the spring was making.

All around was the sounds of running water, it dripped from rocks and overhanging trees, it raced from pools higher up creating a gentle current. The steam rose up all around her as little bubbles rose from its depths. And somewhere in the back of her she could hear the joyful splashing of play. It suddenly felt very lonely bathing by oneself. Filia desperately wanted some company, or at least to see what was going on what with all the frantic splashing she was hearing, "but I can't go over there, that would be peeping, and the last thing I want is to be a peeper" _but you are curious to see what he looks like, right?_ "What do you know your just a voice in my head!" she exclaimed to no one in particular, "alright that's it, this is crazy, I'm talking to a voice in my head" she shook said head violently. "Alright here's my plan!" she exclaimed to her head, "I will go over there and peep at Val, now if that means Xellos is there than thats fine because I'm a girl and if he looks over and finds me then he's peeping and thusly I can bash him, and if he doesn't then everyone will be none the wiser! That should work right?"

**Logic Confirmed**

"Alright then let's go" determination spreading she slowly crept across the larger rock using whatever means for cover. She reached the other side quickly to find Xellos sitting in the water next to a shallow pool where Val sat. He was presently splashing water on Val playfully, Val was apparently pretty good at splashing as Xellos hair was dripping with water. It was so strange to Filia to see a Mazoku do the kinds of things that seemed to come natural to Xellos. She hardly had to explain how to feed Val, or to change him. He discovered on his own how Val liked to be rocked and had even given her some pointers on how he should be held as if he had done it all before. Seeing him now she could only smile at how much like a father he had seemed to become, so not the typical demon image that one would think of, if she didn't know any better she would swear he was a human and not a creature of the dark. The Mazoku, the sworn enemy of all dragons, the only thing on his body that made her think of them was his eyes that remained so blank and distant, that seemed to show no emotion with. The rest, _oh right the rest..._ she had noticed that she had been staring at Xellos for quite some time noticing his thin yet strong exterior, his playful smile that he wore on most days, his sopping purple hair, the way all this made her heart go apitter patter. She watched as Val got a good hold on a lock of his hair...

Xellos was very much so enjoying himself so much so that he had almost forgotten what it was he was supposed to do today, a task he would disdain to no end. He looked at the little baby who sat so cutely in the shallow pool he was in merrily splashing the water about, "Hey Val" he said in the kind of childlike voice reserved exclusively for discussing important matters with children, it caught Val's attention so that he was now looking straight at Xellos. "Just between you, me, and the water I'm going to have to do something very terrible in a very short while, but I want you to be strong for your mother, because by the time its all over things should be just as they are, **I hope" **

Val looked at him strangely, "So what do you think of that?" Xellos commented as he leaned his head in so it was level with Val's. He quickly felt a tugging on his hair as he noticed the toddler had a firm grip on his hair and was pulling at it. He smiled sweetly as he lifted the baby from the pool and gently released Val's grip from his hair as he walked toward the larger rock. Undaunted Val grasped on to one of his fingers and refused to let go, "Your a persistent little thing aren't you, strong grip too, reminds me a lot of your father" his smile fading for a moment as if he were suddenly remembering something unpleasant as he walked back toward the large rock. Filia chose this moment to leave fearing that Xellos would want to leave soon only to find her spying. 

It was roughly fifteen minutes later however that Xellos signaled that they should probably go. Filia was back on land and dressed in the instant he had called her mind blazing. "What did he mean by Val's father? How could he know anything about the Ancient Dragons if only Golden Dragons were involved in their massacre?" she shivered slightly at that thought the memories of the truth still scarred in her memory. 

Nevertheless she looked away as he exited the hot spring and put on his clothes once more securing Val in the basket. "How about lunch?" Xellos offered 

"You offering lunch Xellos? How unusual" 

"I don't think it is so strange for the number of times you've had me over" 

"Uninvitedly" Filia sneered, Although_ it could be a good opportunity to ask a few questions... "_What about Val?" 

"Don't worry he's covered" Xellos commented revealing a hidden compartment beneath where Val lay containing two bottles of formula and a whole diaper changing kit, "wow, you come prepared" was all Filia could say

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Chapter Two: end

Sorry for the strange break here, I was planning on making this and chapter three one longish chapter, but I felt that posting it like this would satiate those readers who wanted to see part of where this was going. The next chapter should be finished very quickly so don't worry this is only a temporary cliff hanger :)


	3. Chapter Two: What Mazoku Can Do part 2

Author Notes: My theory is that three month old babies like to sleep a lot ^^

Also I think darkish blue is Filia's eye color, I checked the anime and that looks right ^^

Within the boundaries of this story I consider the contraction "I'm" to be one word

The Status Quo

Chapter Two: What Mazoku Can Do part 2

A teacup came to rest on its coaster, "So she really ate the camel!?, well knowing Lina I'm not surprised" Filia couldn't help but laugh at Xellos's humorous recount of one of his past misadventures with Lina-tachi. "Well I was surprised then, but times did get tough traveling through the desert" Xellos commented as he took another sip of his own tea. 

"Waaaaaaahhhhh!" It was at that moment that Val decided to alert them that he was hungry. Reacting swiftly Xellos reached down to grab Val exactly at the same moment Filia was. The result of course being that their hands touched both attempting to grip Val who continued to bawl. It was an instantaneous moment that they both felt the contact of each other, Xellos looked up to see Filia look up at the same time. 

"I'll feed him" they both said almost simultaneously, Filia chuckled before grabbing Val from his basket and retrieving a bottle from the compartment, "I'll get him, I feel like I haven't spent any time with him today" she commented as she propped Val up on her knee to administer the bottle. 

"oh, is that so?" Xellos commented thoughtfully before taking a bite out of the sundae he had ordered. 

It was already stretching into the early afternoon at this point, Val had decided to take a nap after his formula, Filia stared at his peaceful form for a moment before turning back to Xellos. 

Xellos watched as she resumed eating her own desert, strawberry shortcake, he watched her golden hair sway in the breeze, her dark blue eyes shining in the sunlight. "_She is pretty"_ he thought casually as he sighed, "I wish things could stay as they are; I think I'm beginning to enjoy the good times as well as the bad times with you, Filia" he looked at her face again her forehead knit in concentration, 

"Is there something you want to ask me?" 

Filia was slightly dazed, "huh?" 

"It's written all over your face that something is bothering you"

Filia laughed nervously, "Is it that obvious?" _I guess this is as good a time as any, better start slow..._

"hai Fi-chan, what's up?" Xellos leaned slightly back in his chair hands behind his head

"Well, I was wondering about that song, the one you were singing to Val awhile ago" she responded tentatively

"Song? Oh that, you heard that didn't you..." his voice kind of trailed off losing its previous joviality

Filia was just about to ask what was wrong when Xellos continued, "it was from my mother, a lullaby she used to sing to me a long time ago..." his head was slightly bowed, his voice serious, "it's not something I like to talk about" he finished his voice regaining its usual tone as he took another sip of tea. 

Filia was surprised, "you had a mother?!" was something she wanted to say, but knew that it would sound foolish, it was just so strange thinking of Xellos being anything other than what he is now, _especially not a baby._ A distorted mental image of some dark cave came to mind where a tiny, deformed, purple haired version of Xellos appeared. Filia shook her head violently to clear it,

"daijobu desu ka?" was Xellos's shaky reply a sweat drop forming, 

"Anyway... It was a really nice song" _and you have a really nice singing voice..._

"hai, it was..." 

_I think that's enough probing for one day_... Filia thought casually as it seemed these memories were painful for Xellos, _I can always ask him about Val later..._

Xellos and Filia finished their desert/lunch/tea as the afternoon sun was beginning to fall across the sky, it began to cast its shadows and create a beautiful orangish glow. They agreed that it was time to leave, Xellos reached down to pick up Val's basket, but suddenly retracted his grasp, _It wouldn't be right..._

Filia turned to see Xellos standing in mid grasp of Val's basket, he stood up from his position and turned to see her, "could you carry him for the rest of the way?" he asked, his voice sounding a little strained, "sure" she responded still smiling though a little disconcerted.

They began to walk down the short rode, already the grove at the town limits was visible. Xellos walked alongside Filia, his head was slightly bowed in thought, suddenly his left hand clenched tightly, "I have to do it, I have to do it soon or else... I will die" _and then..._

They had reached the grove when Xellos stopped, it was a few yards of walking before Filia noticed. She thought she heard him sigh deeply and turned to feel a cold wind blow through the grove.

She saw that Xellos was standing in the entrance to the grove a few yards away. His head was bowed slightly and she could feel a terrible dark aura surround him, his cloak had reappeared as well as his staff, which now glowed a dark red aura. 

"Xellos...What's going on?" she ran toward him stopping when he lifted his head up, her eyes widened. His pupils now seemed smaller and even paler, the whites of his eyes a reddish tinge. 

He looked directly at her with a wide smile, "well Filia it was fun today, it's really a shame it all has to come to an end" his voice on its highest jovial setting, 

"eh?" was all she could mutter as she stood there watching Xellos, she had an unconscious urge to remove Val from his basket, now that he was safely in her arms she felt some of the disbelief fading, "what do you mean Xellos? What's going on?" she could only question weakly, 

"It's very simple" he commented nonchalantly, "I have been ordered to kill you at noon tomorrow on this rode..." 

Filia's eyes widened in shock, but then by some force of will she remained on her feet, "So that was your plan from the beginning, eh Xellos?" it was so very hard to keep the tears from flowing, "I should have known that nothing could change a Mazoku's ways, you really played me for a fool" her voice was barely holding together, she wanted so desperately to fall to her knees, "and we are also going to take the Ancient Dragon with us" Xellos said smirking

Filia held her Val closer to her using both hands she wrapped them around him protectively. "I won't let you hurt a hair on his head Xellos, I'll kill you!, even if it means my death!" she screamed straight into his smirking demeanor, 

"as you have so often mentioned to me... well goodbye for now Filia I hope to find you well come noon tomorrow" he smiled broadly as he waved with his free hand before disappearing into an enormous gust of dark energy. Filia collapsed onto the ground...

Val had awoken during the shouting and now lay in her arms bawling tears rolling down his little face. Filia tried so hard to comfort the infant as she kneeled there on the ground, "there there Val it's alright mommy won't let that...that nanogami touch you ever again" she said her voice trying to be soothing, but cracking as it did. For all her effort Val just seemed to cry more, "shh shh It's alright Val It's...are? Why am I?" tears were falling down her own cheeks now as she sat there trying to comfort her child but finding her unable to comfort herself as the tears continued to flow. Suddenly she felt a presence behind her as she sat, felt warm, supportive arms around her for the briefest of instances she turned to see Xellos's face. Not that of the terrible demon who had spoken to her moments ago, but as she gazed into his eyes she saw, _honesty, trust, caring_. And for the briefest of moments he whispered into her ear, her brain barely had time to process their simple contents before he disappeared once more from her as if he never was. She sat for a moment before suddenly getting up and running wildly toward the house. Tears still flooded from both her and Val, "I don't know going on!" she screamed as she ran to no one and everyone in particular...

Zellas sat in her throne enjoying the scenes that played out before her. The Golden Dragon's anger, sadness, fears, and resentments were as delectable to her as ice cream or a fine wine. Xellos appeared before her in a flash of darkness his position already in what she had come to expect, on one knee, bowed, his staff resting on his lowered head. 

"Was that **menacing **enough for you?, my master" his voice was low, serious, almost solemn

Zellas had a very broad smile covering her features as she sat/lay on her throne, her legs crossed. "Yes, it was quite satisfactory"

Xellos got up from his position as if to exit her chamber, "although..." 

He froze in his tracks turning to face his master, "I am far more interested in the words that were not heard as apposed to those that were" 

Xellos felt a chill, "You were following us were you not? I assumed what I said would have been heard like everything else" 

"Yes that would be true excepting of course the hot spring scene, I am sure you are aware that we would not follow you there, Xellos" she commented uncrossing and recrossing her legs before adding, "we Mazoku do have some sense of decency" 

"And secondly the scene at the very end, when you phased into the astral plane my minion thought that you were returning and thusly returned himself, he was only able to catch you in a compromising position with the Golden Dragon within one instant of your final departure" she finished maintaining her sultry image throughout her lengthy analysis

Xellos seemed uncomfortable at the mention of the 'compromising position' and didn't seem to be answering, "If it's uncomfortable for you Xellos I could always force it out of you" she smiled gesturing toward a place in the wall where three weapons lay, two swords, one short and the other broad, and the third a black whip that flared with a reddish aura all around it. Xellos panicked, "If she uses that she could ask me anything she wants" _that would be very hazardous..._

Zellas was bored, indecision was not something Xellos was known for, "alright then Xellos your not going to tell me the contents of your conversation at least tell me this, she casually phased from her position on the chair to the bottom of the stairs and then in front of Xellos in an instant, a large smirk on her face, "was it two words or three?" 

"eh?" was all Xellos could respond, "two or three" Zellas repeated dangerously, the whip appearing in her hands, Xellos could do nothing, but put a hand behind his head and laugh nervously, "two, actually" he finished with a round of nervous laughter, 

Strangely Zellas looked both surprised and disappointed at his answer, she sighed, "very well then you may return to your courters for the remainder of the day" she walked back to her throne, the whip disappearing from her grasp and back in its place

Xellos had trouble processing the strange order of events that had just taken place, but decided it best to exit quickly. He left Zellas's chamber only to collapse against the rock wall. The day may not have been physically tiring, but emotionally it had drained him severely. He lumbered off toward his chamber which was only a dozen or so yards from Zellas's throne room for practical reasons. He collapsed on his bed, next too which the scenes from yesterday morning still flashed in a loop. "Was that yesterday? It seems so far away now" he spoke into his blankets, the image of Filia's teary face replaced that which was shown on the screen in his mind. He rolled over on his bed staring at the plain rock roof that was generated when his room was cut out from the mountain rock. He lay there thinking of all that lay ahead the most prevalent thought being, _I hate seeing her cry..._

Filia sat on her bed, Val was now laying in the middle of her bed, his tears had subsided and he merely looked full of malcontent or at least he did to Filia. She sat still looking at the ground, but no seeing it, now and then a fresh tear would roll down as she recalled a memory of the past. "This is stupid!" she suddenly rose from her bed her hands clenched into fists as she stood, "everything was a lie! It was all one of his sick games and now he's going to come back and finish me off and take Val! He's evil and he never...he never changed at all" more tears fell, which she violently wiped away. She collapsed back down on her bed, "but then why did he say that to me..."_ I'm sorry..._

Those two words that he said with such emotion in his eyes it just haunted her. She tried to shake it away, but she only found herself staring at the flowers he had given her that morning. "What's that?" she noticed something hidden within the sunflowers that she hadn't seen before. She walked over to the bouquet and pulled out a card from within...

_I'm sorry Fi-chan by the time I managed to get out here all the flower shops were closed, I promise to replant them later..._

_Love, _

_Xellos _

Filia could feel herself welling with anger as she crumpled the card in her hand, "oh Xellos! I'll bash him to the end of the earth for messing with my garden again!" she brought her arms down from their outstretched 'righteous anger stance' only to bring her hands and the note down to her chest, "I'll bash him.. I really really wanna bash him" her voice was filled with sorrow as she stood.

Xellos didn't know how long he had been laying on his comfortable bed with his eyes shut, sleep or what little a Mazoku could get or in fact needed didn't come. He felt that he was just about able to relax when he heard from behind a deep throated growl. The kind of growl that could only come from a pissed off, post pubescent, female wolf. Xellos could just feel the slobber dripping on his forehead. He opened his eyes to see all too familiar features, he laughed nervously, "now Snowy I expected this from just about everyone, but you" he grabbed her two front legs and tossed her up into the air and onto another part of the bed, with a yelp of surprise she landed on the jumbled up covers. Xellos couldn't help but laugh though the events still wore heavily on him no one could avoid the charm of a wolf attempting to free itself from a bunch of blankets. Between bouts of laughter he managed to get out, "Serves you right for getting slobber all over my head" 

Snowy managed to get free from her imprisonment in time to retort, "I can't believe you would stoop so low as to go out with that, that Golden Dragon and her little brat! Don't you have any pride in you Mazoku heritage?" she exclaimed/questioned Xellos

"but onechan you know I just love her!" his voice became ultra childish using the word 'tsuki' 

Snowy shuddered at the use of the word, "and I love you too onechan! And I love all of Lsama's creatures!" he exclaimed going into one of Amelia's justice poses

"Stop saying that word!" Snowy exclaimed still feeling a slight chill from it, "I just can't understand what you see in her that you don't see in me" she said her voice slightly deeper, "Well, that's kinda complicated onechan, I think I'll tell you when your older" 

"And stop calling me your onechan, I'm not related to you and I'm 300 years old!" Snowy retorted snarling viciously, 

Xellos contemplated for a moment, "you may not be related to me, but I've known you ever since you were glued to you ma's teat, so I think you'll always be my onechan, Snowy" If wolves could blush from embarrassment Snowy would be

"Well we could give our relationship a chance, you know go on a date like you an that Golden Dragon did" she mused her tail waging happily, "Well that wouldn't really work seeing as you don't have a human form yet, and I don't possess a wolf form, things would just get weird" 

"I could learn, or you could pretend" she trailed off sounding hopeful

Xellos's eyes narrowed, "and exactly how far do you want that pretending to go?" a hint of implication in his voice. If wolves could blush from embarrassment Snowy would be.

It was only then that Xellos noticed that the images of Filia on the screen had continued to advance forward, she was now in her room looking at a card. _Oh shit! _Was all he could think as he gazed into the screen, "If I'm still able to see this then master is too" he rambled off quickly as he dashed out of the room leaving Snowy to stew in her own malevolence, she hopped off the bed and padded over to the screen through which Filia could be seen. 

"Damn you, Golden Dragon!" she exclaimed to herself as her form suddenly shifted from a pure white wolf to that of a fourteen year old girl with gorgeous flowing white hair and deep red eyes. She stared fixedly at the picture before attempting to lash out at it with her hand, she felt even more angered when it just turned into mist and reformed in front of her. She growled fiercely before clasping her hands to her head and crying softly. "I'll kill you myself and then Xellos and me will be happy together" she lowered her hands a fierce determination flaring in her eyes. A previously invisible red mark in the shape of a bird with its wings down blazed on left upper arm as the reason for its existence raged inside of her.

Xellos ran out of the room and dashed into Zellas's chamber in moments, she was still sitting in her throne examining the screen, "Is there something I can do for you, Xellos?" she commented still gazing into the screen, "Yes, Lord Beastmaster I request that you allow Filia to do what she wishes for the time she has left without being watched" he respectfully hung his head down in her presence. Zellas leaned back slightly in her chair, "and why would I do such a thing as that?" 

Xellos suddenly smirked his voice regaining some of the menacing tone it had had earlier, "because what fun is tracking down prey when you know exactly where they've been and what they are doing" his voice sounded completely predatory, devoid of any form of emotion beside the pleasure of the hunt. Zellas found his sudden change of mood intriguing, "Alright then, I will grant your request for now, Xellos" she said waving her hand, the screen before her disappeared, and with another calm gesture the signal was sent for the spies to return from their mission. "However when this is all over I would like a more satisfactory answer to why you are taking this course of action"

Xellos bowed, "yes, my master" 

Filia had left the house after wrapping Val securely in a blanket, the night had seemed to provide ample cover. She walked through the outer rodes of the town heading toward a house far from the center of town. A woman who she had messaged earlier came out from the cottage, they were both wearing thick cloaks with the hood up so to hide their identities. Filia reluctantly handed Val over to her, she kissed his sleeping head goodbye before hugging them both, "Thank you so much Merri, I don't know how to thank you" 

"Don't mention it, I know you would do the same for me, even if it was against an all powerful Mazoku lord" she smiled confidently as she waved Filia off. She had to hurry, there was much left to do before Xellos's arrival...

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Chapter Two: What Mazoku Can Do part 2 end

Getting excited? I know I am :

A few words in here that most should know,

onechan – little sister

tsuki – love (more childlike than daisuki or aishiteru)

daijobu desu ka? - are you alright?

Honestly I think that was it...

Next up Chapter Three: Outcome! Blood and Loss

A special thanks to all my wonderful reviewers/followers you are my life blood


	4. Chapter Three: Outcome! Blood and Loss

Thank you very much to all my reviewers especially Amaterasu whose comments were very informative, I hope that this fic continues to rank highly with you as it reaches its climactic conclusion... or is it?

The Status Quo

Chapter Three: Outcome! Blood and Loss

Zellas, the great and powerful Master of all Beasts, quietly awaited the deadline she herself had set. Her foot tapped slightly against the rock floor. To Xellos its gentle clanging seemed to get louder and louder counting down each second that passed drawing ever closer toward a pivotal moment. The sky over their mountainous home, which was plagued by almost constant storms seemed to clear on this day. As if heaven itself was crying out for this heinous act to cease. 

He stood at attention in front of her as she had instructed him to so many hours ago. He gazed around from his master's serene seemingly bored features, to Snowy as she pranced merrily about on all fours counting out the hours left until that "Golden Dragon bitch was going to die" in a jovial manner, to his own features in a mirror that hung to the left of the cave from where he was. They showed what he wanted the world to see at this moment, a handsome Mazoku of slightly smallish build that remained without the ability to express any kind of emotion, his pale yellow eyes were a testament to this nature_._

The hours slowly ticked by until the final moment had elapsed and Lord Beastmaster halted her relentless tapping. She unfolded her arms as she stood from her throne, her full brown cloak parted to reveal that she was carrying two swords with her. The short Dragon Slaying Remure, and the broad Demon Slaying Voirlendi. 

Xellos noticed her movement assuming the position he had become accustomed to after so many centuries under her. She approached his bowed form stopping just before him, "stand Xellos" 

He did as he was told meeting her merciless gaze. Snowy stood next to her joyfully wagging her tail. "Do you know what you are to do today, Xellos?" 

"hai, my master" 

"good" her smile shifted to a smirk as she answered, "I trust you will put your heart into it... or perhaps I should say leave none of your heart in it" she finished with a deadly chuckle 

"hai, my master" he bowed slightly before turning to leave

He heard a bark behind him of 'wait!' as he excited Zellas's chamber, he turned to see Snowy's swift padding strides behind him. She looked highly agitated, "Xellos...umm...when you get back I have something important I want to tell you, so I'll wait till you get back, ok?"

Xellos leaned down and patted her on her pure white wolfish head, "alright Snowy when I get back" his voice was its classic Xellos self a slight smile on his face. Snowy was so filled with joy at this moment that she almost ran into a wall as she bolted back to her room, "I'll be able to tell him! And since that Dragon will be dead we can be together for eternity!" she yelped with joy. 

Xellos's features quickly changed as he walked away from the wolf he considered a little sister, they were now serious. He walked a few more feat before slowly phasing from the dark caves through the astral plane.

Zellas still stood within her chamber, she waited until both Snowy and Xellos had gone before speaking, "Na, Ra, Ku, come out" three Mazoku appeared from the shadows of her chamber. They kneeled before her, "hai, my master" they replied in unison.

"I have ordered Xellos to slay the Golden Dragon, you have been following him for some time and know the one in which I speak?" 

"hai my master" 

"Be sure that he completes his mission, if he should fail or choose to fail, **kill him**" 

The three looked surprised for a moment sharing apprehensive looks at their assignment. "Hai my master!" they responded louder so to mask their own fear. "good..." Zellas's wicked smile returned as she watched her minions revert to the shadows and then disappear to the astral plane. Zellas sat in her throne pulling another cigarette from her person, lighting it easily with a scrap of her aura. She took a long drag on it casually blowing the smoke into the air, "It's all up to you now Xellos" _It's all up to you..._

Filia stood in her full priestess gown accompanied by all the flair and circumstance, her hair tied up in an ornamental fashion. The sun had reached its zenith in the sky, it was now noon. "If I'm going to die, at least I'm going to die looking good" the words came confidently from her as she stood on the same road she and Xellos had walked through just one day ago. "This feels so strange" she thought as she stood feeling the breeze blow past her, "At least it's a nice day" she couldn't help but laugh at her own wry humor at this point. 

It was then that she noticed a figure walking toward her his purple hair and staff were instantly recognizable. His jovial features were the first thing she noted, she couldn't help but smile too, "Hey Xellos! Nice day to kill me isn't it?" _I should at least not give him a meal out of this..._

"Yes, it is a very nice day Filia" he responded equally as jovially, he stopped a few yards away from her. Xellos looked around, "So where's Val?"

Filia couldn't help but get flustered at his mentioning of her son, "Not like I would tell you, but he is in a very safe place" 

Xellos opened his eyes, "that's good" an awkward moment followed, "I don't want it to be too easy to finish this" he concluded smiling as he brought his staff to the fore, "I wish you hadn't put your hair up it's so much better down"

"You don't deserve my best" 

"it makes me sad to hear that" 

Xellos put his staff down lowering his head for a few seconds his aura flared around him, his staff glowed darkly. He raised his head looking directly into her eyes, "Goodbye, I hope the world to come is less cruel"

He phased so that he was directly in front of her raising his staff high, Filia couldn't stand to watch her final moments so she closed her eyes...

She felt the cutting force blow through her, past her. Blood rolled down her, she fell to the ground staring through her closed eyes. 

"Filia..." she could hear Xellos speak in a serious voice

"what?" 

"Filia..you can open your eyes now" 

"And see what?! You killing me, my life disappearing, my never being able to see Val grow up!" 

She broke her reverie as she felt herself being lifted to her feet. She opened her eyes to see Xellos standing in front of her holding her arm. She could feel blood on her back and turned to see a Mazoku cut clean in half behind her. She turned back to see Xellos's smiling face, "Xellos?" was all she could question weakly. "Oh don't look so shocked, Fi-chan" _And that goes for you (readers) too..._

Filia felt a strange mix of confusion and joy. "Xellos, what's going on?!" 

"I'll explain later" he replied as he began to drag her forward down the road, he let go as she began running with him. A large ax wielding Mazoku appeared a ways down the road, "Xellos what did you do to Na?" he stood in the middle of the road blocking their way, "sorry Ra, I'm afraid you will no longer be able to phonetically spell 'hell' anymore" his jovial voice returned at that moment, "Damn you Xellos!" the Mazoku raised his ax high over his head, but Xellos was faster. Simply raising his hand out in front of him Xellos cast out his dark aura that had suddenly flared up around him. Ra was completely obliterated in the blast. Filia was astounded at the power that was coming from Xellos, "but then again he was responsible for the death of an entire Golden Dragon clan many years ago" she reminded herself before continuing to follow him down the road into town. Ku was watching from a distant vantage point in the air above, deciding that discretion was more important than family ties. 

Filia and Xellos reached the crossroads in the center of town where all roads met, a beautiful figure stood there clad in a brown cloak waiting for them. Xellos stopped immediately holding out his arm so that Filia would do the same. Filia watched the figure before her feeling a great fear well within her at the mere sense of her aura. Xellos stood his ground while staring into her gray eyes, her predatory smile which lingered even now. "Well, Xellos I never thought you would go this far to betray me" her voice remained pleasant not a trace of threat

He put his hand behind his head laughing nervously for a short period as he always did when he feared angering her. He stopped after a few seconds before answering, "I'm just trying to maintain the status quo, Lord Beastmaster" was what he said.

"Honestly Xellos do you really love this dragon so much that you would sacrifice all that I have given you?" her question achieved a different reaction from both members involved. 

Filia reacted by hesitantly looking at Xellos, his features had become instantly serious. "Xellos? In love with me?" was all she could think as the blush reached her entire face. Xellos faced his master, his eyes open all traces of joviality gone, "I...actually" he stammered slightly, "_yes?, yes?" _was all Filia could think. She suddenly felt his hand entwine itself in hers. "I..." it was as if he was struggling to get the words out...

Suddenly his eyes closed and his head cocked to the side, "Sore wa himitsu desu!" was all he said as he and Filia were engulfed in darkness and disappeared. Zellas smiled looking for a moment at the place where they had been, before disappearing herself. 

For Filia it was one of the strangest experiences in her life, it felt like flying through an endless darkness with no way up or down. It felt suffocating as if she was being squeezed on all sides by some invisible force. She could do nothing but squeeze tighter the hand which held her on course. The darkness lifted all around her as they reappeared in the physical world, she felt weak and consequently fell to the grass. "Are you alright Filia?" she heard Xellos ask his voice held some concern in it. "Oh I'm just fine" she said standing up before continuing, "I come to a road where you say your going to kill me and then you don't, then I am running with you and you kill another Mazoku, and then we meet the Lord of all Beasts right in the middle of a cozy little town I like very much, my life is just fine!" she exclaimed in frustration rounding on Xellos, "what the hell is going on?!" 

Xellos was taken aback, "I said I would tell you all about it later" he began to run down a dusty path, "Now is later!" she screamed at him, "don't you think its more important we get to Val before Lord Beastmaster does?" 

Filia was taken aback, "oh right" she had been so wrapped up in the events she had lost track of the rest. "Don't worry about Val I got him to a very safe place at the edge of town" she responded confidently

Xellos looked relieved, "that's good, so that would mean he's in a shrine surrounded by Demon wards and white magic glyphs" 

Filia turned her head down a little, Xellos began to look a little worried, "please tell me you at least put in an Astral Ward?" 

She looked a little in the other direction, Xellos sighed, "I hope that you didn't just give him to a friend to hang onto for awhile" 

"well its not like you gave me a lot of time!" she retorted

"well, I hope she isn't a really good friend" Xellos commented angering Filia, but worrying her moreso. "Did I do the right thing?" raced through her mind, "Of course I did there was not enough time to do anything else" _Or was there?..._

"So where is this place exactly?" Xellos's voice broke her mental indecision. She examined the surroundings, "we should almost be there now, its a cabin over that next hill" 

Xellos looked shocked and slightly irritated, "This close? Why didn't you just teleport somewhere where he might have some protection like with Lina or in Saillune?" he berated her but he was also berating himself, "I didn't give her enough time, but with master..ehr...Lord Beastmaster watching my every move I couldn't risk it" _I should have done something more..._

The house appeared as they crested a large hill to see it tucked away in a valley. It lessened their collective fear and apprehension to see that it was unharmed. They reached the front only to stare through the open door and find the inside wrecked, "MERRI!" Filia screamed as she saw her body lying in a pool of blood on the ground of the kitchen, "Filia wait!" Xellos screamed trying to stop her, but it was too late she had already entered the house. Xellos shook his head as he entered the house behind her, she had kneeled down and was cradling the body of her dear friend. Merri's eyes opened slightly, Filia's face light up, _She was still alive!_

"Don't worry Merri, I'll heal you better than new" she began a healing spell before Merri stopped her, "Filia, it's...too late...I h...aave to...tell you" her voice became lower, "they took...Val..they took...him..and I...I couldn't...stop them" 

"who took him?" Filia said urgently tears welling in her eyes, but it was too late. Merri let out one more shuddering breath and fell limp into her hands. "Merri? Merri! MERRI!" she screamed as she shook the body of her friend. Xellos stared at her as the tears began to flow unchecked from her. He leaned down putting his arm around her as she leaned into his chest for support as she cried all that she could...

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Chapter Three: Outcome! Blood and Loss

Sorry for the shortness of this one, If I were to go on this chapter would likely never end... but don't worry I should be able to update soon :)

Well there it is, there Filia is alive and now Val is gone, but who took him? And what is the secret that still lies deep within Xellos? and most importantly, Why did Zellas want Val so badly?

Next up! Chapter Four: Toward The Sea We Go!


	5. Chapter Four: Toward the Sea We Go!

Author notes: Thank you very much, Ukchana, it was your comments that hit the nail so eloquently on the head as to the problem contained in my story thus far, which gave me the insight and time to lead it in the direction it is now....

Also I haven't read the name of Lina's hometown in a very long time so I am only approximating here, if anyone knows one or more of the correct spellings/pronunciations please feel free to inform me of them, Thank You.

ANN: I have also forgotten if Filia has pointed ears, its not really important but if anyone knows that would also help me a lot Thank Thank You

The Status Quo

Chapter Four: Toward the Sea We Go!

The afternoon sun was beginning to droop in the western sky. The beautiful oranges, reds, and yellows that filled and mixed in the sky were lost to two people. Xellos stood in an open field adjacent to the house, his staff in hand. The red stone shined brightly as it tapped the ground creating a shallow gouge in the earth. Filia gently placed the body of her dear friend into it wiping away the last of her tears as she piled the earth on top of her, covering her dull green eyes and beautiful brown hair that was once the envy of many in the small town, and Zephalia alike.

Filia remained knelt against the pile of earth her hands clenching the loose soil. Xellos had watched the procession and all the time the name of this person who had just been buried ringed in his mind, "Filia who was this person that you would trust Val with?" 

"She was a dear friend, a fourth generation Master Cleric, Merri Thompson..." she forced herself to look from the grave she herself was responsible for, to Xellos who stood next to her. 

He was shocked, "You can't mean **the** Merri Thompson, the next in line for the position of Knight of Ceiphied?" 

"yes, that's why I can't believe this happened! I thought that if not with Lina-tachi or Luna, the best protection with Val was here" she stood up tears threatened to fall once more, "but now she's dead and its all my fault, so the only thing we have left to do is to go kill Beastmaster and get my Val back!" she screamed with determination into the falling light of the sun.

She calmed down slightly after her say, the burial done it was now time for vengeance it was now time to return what was taken. 

"I don't think it was Beastmaster who was responsible"

Filia turned to meet Xellos's gaze, "what do you mean?" 

"I can't be completely sure because you ran into the house, but when I was inside I couldn't smell the scent of any wolf or other beast, all I could find was dragon and.....fish"

"fish?" Filia remarked in disbelief

Xellos walked toward the house Filia followed him as he sat down on its porch, Xellos sighed, "This leads me to believe that there are only two possible suspects..." 

He looked toward the south, "either Lady Deep Sea Dolphin, or the dragons" 

Filia had an answer to this already formed in her mind, "It has to have been Deep Sea Dolphin then!" she said this though in her mind it was only too possible that her brethren had done it, _If my own kind were to betray me again, I don't know what I would do..._

"I don't think so" was Xellos's reply, "Out of those two I would say that the dragons are probably responsible" Xellos commented, 

"why?" was Filia's only reply, Xellos got up from his seat grasping his staff as he did. 

He walked a few feet toward the south before turning around his smile had returned and his eyes were closed, "because she's too nice" 

The heavy padding of feet was distinctly heard as a white wolf made a mad dash from her room nearly sliding into the wall as she struggled to stop in front of Lord Beastmaster's throne room. She had heard from the others that Zellas had returned so that must mean that the mission was completed and... "_that dragon bitch is dead! That dragon bitch is dead!" _continued to ring in her mind as she halted in front of her master's throne panting heavily. Her tail hung low as she looked around to see no one but Lord Beastmaster sitting in her chair, "Can I help you with anything Snowy?" she sat cross legged smoking yet another cigarette leisurely, Ku stood at attention in the shadows observing the scene. The white wolf took one more look around before speaking, "I heard the others say that you had returned master so I assumed that Xellos would be here as well" 

Zellas took another pull on her cigarette blowing the smoke into the air, "May I ask where Xellos is master?" she questioned almost pleading, _this doesn't seem right..._

Zellas casually tossed her cigarette to the ground in the company of countless others. She stared at it for a few moments before returning her gaze to the wolf before her. "It would seem that rather than fulfill his mission he has instead decided to betray us" her dangerously sweet voice echoed in the chamber

"_that...that can't be, your lying! Why are you lying master! Xellos wouldn't betray us... He wouldn't betray me!" _Tears filled her eyes as she dashed from the room her whole world felt wrong, she ran and ran until she collapsed to the ground in some faraway chamber. Her form shifted and she ceased to be a fearsome wolf. She lay sprawled on the ground a little girl whose face ran with tears. "He wouldn't betray us, I know he wouldn't... its all just a game he's playing, that has to be it! He's going to come back tomorrow carrying that dragon's head in one hand, and that brat in another." She sniffed as she wiped away the tears that fell, "I know! I'll go find him so that I can see for myself what devious trick he's playing" she could feel the strange uneasiness well within her as if something was terribly wrong yet terribly right, weakening yet holding great strength. She shook off this feeling before disappearing into the darkness...

"_Too nice! How can a Mazoku be **too nice** it doesn't make any sense!" _Filia rambled to herself as they walked. Night had fallen and the beautiful starry sky shone above them in all its celestial glory, it made one feel small. More to the point it felt lonely, to be walking down a dusty road with Xellos and without the son she missed so much. She looked ahead noticing that Xellos was glancing back at her every so often as they walked. She realized she must have a very depressed look on her face. She shook her head to clear those thoughts as she concentrated on the task at hand. 

She was lagging behind Xellos so she ran to catch up with him until they were now side by side. 

"Daijobu?" Xellos looked at her with a comforting smile, "un" was her response as she continued to walk beside the Mazoku. 

Suddenly a thought crept into her mind, "Xellos why don't we just use the astral plane to get to where Deep Sea Dolphin is?" 

He shook his head, "because a servant of a Mazoku Lord is only allowed one trip through the astral plane that is undetectable, if we were to travel to Umika and Deep Sea Dolphin now she would be able to find us instantly"

"I see" she looked down slightly as they walked, "then why didn't you travel farther the first time? You didn't know how close Val was to the town"

Xellos put a hand to the back of his head, "well, I was going to... but it didn't feel like you were taking it too well" 

Filia looked up at him, "you were squeezing my hand pretty hard" he concluded as he returned his gaze to the front

They walked for a time more before a cool wind began to blow from behind them. Filia noticed a clearing below them that was like a tiny niche almost completely surrounded by boulders and shrubbery. 

"I think it might be a good time to make camp" she stated stifling a yawn as she approached the clearing,

"hai, Fi-chan" was Xellos's jovial reply

Of course making up camp for two travelers who had not brought anything with them and where only a few miles from the nearest town consisted of a small fire in the center of the natural ring formation of the site.

The two leaned against a rock close to the fire as the night, for some reason, became inexplicably colder. The gathering clouds blocked the light of the moon. Filia stared into the flames, memories came to her of the day that Val was born...

_She was staring into the basket as the egg within continued to fidget and crack, "It was so lucky I had to use the bathroom or I might have missed this!" she squealed as she beamed through sparkling blue eyes into the basket. She had been coming up the stairway when she first heard the movement and knew instantly what it must be. **Crack **another fragment of shell flung from it as more of her darling Val was revealed to the world._

_Filia struggled to restrain herself from just tearing the egg apart, "it was mother's rule of thumb to always allow the child to break free from the egg itself, it was said to be a sign of good health after all" was her thought as she continued to stare excitedly her heart beating into her throat. She heard a sound coming from downstairs, she recognized it immediately to be Xellos, but surprisingly at this moment she didn't care, "Is that you Xellos, I'm in Val's nursery he's about to hatch come and see!" _

_In an instant the purple haired Mazoku was standing in the doorway his features seemed serious_

_*crack crack crack!* the shell broke apart into fragments as her squealing baby was revealed to the world as a beautiful baby boy. "aww he's so cute!" Filia squealed as she picked off the remaining bits of shell and wrapped him in a fluffy towel. She turned to see Xellos with an oddly distracted look on his face as he stared at them, his eyes were open and his hand gripped his staff for an instant he looked like he was steeling himself to do something. It was at that point that the baby squealed for comfort as it lay in its basket bringing both adults back to reality._

_Xellos put his hand behind his head closing his eyes, "what can I do to help?" _

It was a day Filia felt she wouldn't forget for the rest of her life, a day when her son was born and the first day she didn't care that Xellos was a Mazoku. For awhile afterward Xellos was there helping and though on her frazzled days she would call him nanogami and revert to calling him 'Mazoku' for awhile, but the same loathing that she had felt before never returned. 

A thought had come to her at that time. She had been preparing for Val's arrival for... well about as long as she had had the egg itself. She had gossiped with most of the local mothers around town and seen the local doctor for advice, on more than one occasion. However she found that on the actual occasion that those tips and advice were needed she wasn't that adept at using them.

"Xellos?" _She had wanted to ask this for some time..._

"hai?" he turned his head so that his gaze reached hers, (a little upward being he was shorter than most)

Filia stared at his usual jovial face that stared back at her, "How did you get so good with children?"

Xellos leaned into the rock more for a few moments before answering, "Back before I became Lord Beastmaster's Priest and General I was a lowly servant whose main job was taking care of the pups" his smile had an almost laughing quality as he finished, 

"You mean like a babysitter?"

"I suppose you could say that..."

There was a further gust of cold wind which blew through the area. Filia shuddered as the breeze hit her, she looked around to see that Xellos was still looking at her with his bright yellow eyes. 

She felt a strange anxiousness in the air as she stared into those eyes. 

"aah!" she screamed surprised as a sudden force pushed her forward. The scream was stifled as she fell to the ground her lips connected briefly with his. They lay there in shock for a few moments before Filia rose swiftly a blush burning her entire face, "ah...ah That didn't mean anything Xellos! Somebody pushed me, and..."

"shh!" he put a finger to his lips as he got up from the ground quickly, "there's someone here" 

Filia calmed down as she scanned the forest grove above them. Their was a sharp snap somewhere within the darkness of the forest. "Over there!" Xellos pointed to a bush some distance away. The figure in the shadows must have heard them because its fast footfalls and the sound of thrashing bushes was heard and then silence. Xellos was about to follow when he sensed something from the intruder that he couldn't believe...

Xellos sat to the ground near the fire sighing, "I wonder what that was all about" _If only I could use the astral plane I could have been on top off whoever that was in an instant.._

He sighed again, "yare yare, my senses must be broken" he lay down on the ground resting his staff beside him, 

"I could have sworn I sensed an Ancient Dragon, an adult one, but that's impossible" he yawned, "there aren't anymore of those after all" 

Filia couldn't think of anything to say at that moment her mind was still reeling from what had just occurred. "I just kissed Xellos! I just kissed Xellos! I JUST KISSED XELLOS!" those words continued to repeat inside her head until one weak, yet incredibly powerful word that set her mind at ease for the moment and allowed her to sleep that night.

_So?..._

Unbeknownst to our two protagonists as they slept in the waning light of the fire, a second pair of eyes had witnessed their little display. Snowy stood in the distance her right hand digging into the soft earth and her left was clutching a small pendant that hung from her neck. Tears were falling anew from her eyes, "Damn you golden dragon, Damn you for taking my Xellos away..." more tears fell to the earth before she slowly disappeared, 

_Why couldn't things have stayed the way they were!_

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Chapter Four: Toward the Sea We Go! End

I hope people enjoyed this installment, I'm sorry about its briefness or inaccuracy, I've been beating myself up over some of the issues in here that I've been struggling with, mainly the flatness of the dialog. And the fact that for some reason this scene was so much more inspired in my mind than it sounds on the written page...

To Ukchana I hope that a 4th generation cleric and heir to the position of Knight of Ceiphied was a good enough character for you, and yes, English is my first language 

To anyone else who might have suggestions I value you and your input above all else as this is the first story I have ever split into chapters in this way it has been an interesting (and harrowing) experience...

PS: **Author hits self on head**

Next Up! Chapter Five: The Most Unlikely of Suspects


	6. Chapter Five: The Most Unlikely of Suspe

Ok I'm gonna do this one right!

Fleirbanyu – my made up Mazoku language for Wolfpack (part of Zellas's domain)

Please try and forgive me for the spelling of Dynast's last name, I'm not sure if he even has an official last name, but the one I'm using was the one I've most seen... if not the correct spelling of it.

The Status Quo

Chapter Five: The Most Unlikely of Suspects

_The dark cavern loomed on all sides, the sound of dripping water reached the ears of a small pup. She was padding briskly up and down the maze of caves and chambers that was the interior of Flierbanyu Island. The white wolf pup whined feebly as it wandered into another chamber. Two ferocious looking black wolves stared at the new arrival to their home. _

"_Hey Niffe, isn't that a white wolf pup over there?" _

"_Heh?" Niffe looked up from a bone he was busy gnawing on to see the little wolf where it sat in their doorway, his face lit up instantly_

"_Why I do believe it is, Neffe" he answered licking his lips, "and it looks delicious"_

"_Your right Neffe, we haven't had much good to eat in a long time now" his brother commented as they both began their slow advance toward the pup._

_The white wolf ran from the room as fast as it could, sensing danger it barked as loud as it could, only emitting a pathetic whining sound that was heard by no one excepting her pursuers. _

_Niffe changed seamlessly from a running wolf to a running wolf in human male form and instantly disappeared in a cloud of darkness. The wolf ran and ran turning the corner.._

"_Umph" the wolf smacked directly into Niffe who picked her up from the ground, she struggled feebly against him but it was useless. _

_Neffe rounded the corner slowly, "No fair Nisan, you have your human form already!" _

_Niffe shook his long black hair, staring at the pup with expressionless black eyes, "All is fair when it comes to food, Nichan" _

"_I caught her so she's all mine" Niffe licked his lips as he reverted to his wolf form, holding the pup down with a clawed paw_

"_yare yare, how unbecoming of the prestigious Bibos family" a voice rang from the shadows_

_Niffe looked up from his 'meal', "Who's there? Show yourself!" his call rang through the caverns_

_A pool of darkness formed on the rocky ground, a figure slowly emerged from it. His short purple hair and yellow eyes were evident even in the dim light of the chamber. _

"_Xellos, how dare you interrupt us! Go back to tending someone else's pups, this one's ours" Neffe snarled at the Mazoku that stood before them, "right Niffe.. Niffe?"_

_The black wolf turned to see his older brother shaking with fear, his eyes were bulging. Xellos took a step forward, Niffe reflexively released his grip on the white wolf pup before him and backed away several paces, "What's wrong Niffe, he's just a pupwatcher, we can take him" _

_Niffe bowed low with his tale between his legs, his gaze shifted back on his brother, "I'm sorry, General Xellos, we didn't mean anything by it we were just playing with the pup honest" _

_Neffe was confused, "When did he...?" _

_Xellos unsheathed a sword that hung around his waist the shimmering blade and large glowing red inset stone seemed to jog the memory of the younger brother. He immediately bowed as low to the ground as he could, "I'm sorry Xellos-sama we didn't mean anything by it!" he sat their whimpering pathetically. _

_Xellos stuck the broad sword into the ground as he crouched. He held out his hand gesturing for the white wolf to come over to him, "Here Snowy, come to Xellos" followed by a few whistling sounds the young pup finally got the idea and sauntered over to the Mazoku before her. Xellos picked her up in his arms, wrapping one arm around her he picked up the blade with his right hand. His yellow eyes focused on the two sniffling black wolves before him. _

"_The darkest part of darkness is reserved for those who would kill the children of their own race" he brought the sword to the fore as he spoke it glowed fiercely as if it were anticipating the kill. _

"_Please don't Xellos-Sama we'll do anything you want, **anything!**" Niffe pleaded while his younger brother cowered in the shadows next to him_

_Xellos smile deepened as he lowered his sword, "anything?" _

_Niffe raised his head slightly, "yes, yes! Anything you want!" _

"_What do you think should be their punishment?" Xellos looked down at Snowy whom he held securely with his left arm, she turned her head to the two and growled fiercely. _

_Xellos returned his gaze to the brothers' cowering forms, "I ask that you be a good test of my power then" _

_He stuck the sword into the ground beside him, raising his hand to those two wolves who barely had time to react, "Vier'An!" he raised his hand into the air_

_The ground beneath Niffe and Neffe surged upward and with a sickening crash made contact with the rock ceiling. Bits of ceiling and floor then came crashing back to the ground along with the remains of the black wolves. _

_Xellos placed his sword back into its sheath before turning his attention to the pup in his arms. "Where have you been all this time? You mother is worried sick about you wandering off like that" he sighed staring into the puppy dog face she was giving him, "Oh, I can't stay mad at you, though you must now be punished, and punished severely..." Xellos's features took on a menacing tone, Snowy lay in the crook of his left arm cowering in fear. _

_**Xellos Ultimate Puppy Punishment Implementation Tactic: Tickle Attack!**_

"_Rowrrr woof whine woof Rowrr!" Snowy struggled valiantly against Xellos's relentless tickling, she wriggled and struggled until he eventually collapsed from laughter, "puppies are just too cute" Xellos commented as he picked himself and her from the ground, "now let this be a lesson to you, never wander away from family or friends again" he lectured as she just snuggled into his arms not paying much attention. Xellos sighed, "or you can just go to sleep and forget all about it" Puppies could be cruel in their own way..._

_Xellos walked for a short distance before they disappeared into the darkness..._

Snowy walked down some of those same dark corridors, she was wandering aimlessly not certain of what she would do, or where her feet were taking her. "Why couldn't things be like they were before..." she whispered softly as she traversed another corridor of the massive complex that was Flierbanyu Island. That memory was the first one she had had with Xellos, he had been her pupwatcher. He may have not been her only pupwatcher and she certainly not the only pup he ever watched, but he was **her **watcher damnit! 

That particular memory was amusing to her as well because it brought back memories of the Bibos brothers. They were some of the most inept creatures under Lord Beastmaster's command, Xellos had been Lord Beastmaster's general for a little more than a thousand years. And then her priest a short time afterward making him her most trusted and valued servant. Able to do anything and everything asked of him by his master. Snowy glowed as she rounded another corner, memories of her not long ago childhood burgeoning to the surface. It was a few moments before she realized she was approaching Zellas's chamber, for some unknown reason she ducked behind the frame of the entrance. She heard voices from within...

"Do you understand the assignment that I have given you, Kusetsu?" the voice of Zellas floated out of her chamber accentuating her authoritarian tone

"yes, Lord Beastmaster, however I have to ask..." 

Zellas stood from her throne swiftly, she thrust her long cloak to the side casting a demanding figure, "Do you understand my order, or shall I persuade you to understand it?" her voice dripped with intent

Snowy peaked from her 'hiding place' to see Ku, or now she assumed Kusetsu, paling before his master, "hai, my master" he bowed swiftly before disappearing into the dark. Snowy changed swiftly back to her wolf form before slowly walking into the room. Zellas had just finished placing her cloak into the ebb and flow of the astral plane as the white wolf came through her door. "Snowy? What do you want?" 

Snowy walked close to her master sitting down in front of her, "I was wondering what was going to happen to Xellos?" _As long as he's a traitor to you I can at least gleam some information from it..._

Zellas stood for a moment before a devious smile came to her, "Don't worry Snowy, I have just sent a control for the situation" her gaze wandered to the three weapons that glowed in the corner of her room, "what does that mean, master?" 

Zellas's gaze returned to the white wolf, "Don't worry about it, all will be taken care of shortly" she responded sweetly

Snowy understood immediately, "I see, that's good then...to have things resolved" she struggled to keep a straight face as her insides raged, she wanted to cry, but prevented it. "Is that all you wished to know then?" Zellas was at the entrance to her room, a door to the far left corner next to a large mirror. 

"hai, my master" she responded automatically

"good..."

Snowy ran quickly from Zellas's room, _I have to do something..._

Xellos sat against one of the many rocks that ringed their little campsite, the sun hadn't risen yet, but the moon had nearly completed its march across the sky. The Mazoku's eyes scanned the horizon once again, all his senses stretched to their maximum. He had been so tired hours ago, he had just flopped onto the ground after what had happened between him and Filia. He put a finger to his lips remembering the incident...

"That did feel nice" he spoke to the air as he watched the young dragon sleep before him across from the smoldering embers of the fire. "It might surprise you that it was my first, Filia, or should I say my first **real** kiss...though it wasn't really real..." Xellos's mind struggled with this quandary until its solution dawned on him, "it felt nice..."

He stared at her as she slumbered, a contented smile was plastered on her face. "heh, I wonder what your dreaming about?" _Probably about Val and a meadow somewhere, yeah that sounds cliché enough..._

The night was peaceful, its quiet, serene transfer into day was equally as such. Xellos watched as he had done most of the night as Filia quietly rose from the ground. She yawned deeply before turning to see him. "ohayo, Fi-chan" 

"Don't Fi-chan me" she grumbled as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes, "ohayo, Xellos" she finally responded after a few moments of morning routine. 

Umika is a large kingdom that stretches in an arch from the western coast to the eastern coast. It was a large stretch of land with most of its cities in on the coast, with a few on the main rivers. Luckily its capital named for the kingdom itself was the northern most city on the western coast. This meant it could be reached within a day or two of steady traveling from the Roziere village from which they had come. 

Filia walked alongside Xellos in the early afternoon sun. They had been making good time through the paths and main rodes that stretched along the coastline and far into the interior of almost every kingdom on the continent. 

"The view is so pretty from here" Filia remarked as she stared into the beautiful coastline that could be seen atop the ridge they were traveling.

"hai, very pretty..."

When Filia heard the serious tone of his voice she turned her head about to ask him what was wrong when he interrupted her, "Filia" 

"hai?" they had stopped now for a moment, 

He was looking at her seriously, his eyes open and not a trace of a smile, "If we find that Deep Sea Dolphin is not responsible, then..." 

"we try Dynast Grauchera, and if not him then we track down every other living creature in this world until we find the culprit and bring swift and painful retribution upon him or her!" Filia finished with a flourish as she began to walk once more, 

Xellos smiled, "that's the Filia I like" 

The sun had nearly begun to set as our heroes crested a large hill. 

"Kieeee" From their vantage point they could see a magnificent city, rivaling even the brilliance of Seillune. Even at this late hour it still bustled with lively activity, merchants haggling fiercely with locals and travelers alike in the marketplace, children playing in the streets... yes, it seemed to good to be true. 

"This is definitely not the picture I had imagined" Filia couldn't help but comment as they passed through its cobbled streets, "well, if you think about it fish Mazoku are some of the most docile creatures in existence once they find a place they like" Xellos commented as they passed the marketplace as it was winding down another fine day of profit making. 

"Is that so..." 

"hai, very much so, I'm surprised a high level golden dragon priestess didn't know this" Xellos couldn't help but comment jovially,

"ha ha ha ha" Filia feigned chuckling along her voice strained, _If only I had my mace..._

The object of their quest was naturally a large castle or fortress of some kind, right? 

This turned out to be so... Out into the sea atop a precipice stood a grand castle whose stone gleamed in the waning light of the sun, the same color as the sand and rock that comprised the beaches below. Below this, as if supporting it atop its position, was a large cylindrical base that stretched all the way down to the sand which stretched from the coastline to meet it. It was truly a magnificent sight to behold. 

Xellos knocked on the great wooden doors as they reached them. The doors swung open, revealing what appeared to be a young maid. She didn't look much older than fifteen or sixteen and was adorned in a long red cloak with the hood down, even with her diminutive size she spoke with a booming, kind voice

"May I help you, sir and madam?" 

Xellos and Filia looked at each other briefly, "ah yes, we would like to see Lady Deep Sea Dolphin" 

The maid smiled brightly, "That can be arranged, she should just be coming back from a swim now... by the way my name is Eclair, Eclair Wertrite, Hajimemashite" she bowed deeply before moving aside. 

"uhm, Nice to meet you too" Filia responded brightly as she and Xellos walked through the gate, _This feels slightly bizarre..._

Eclair closed the door behind them before beckoning them further into the castle, past a row of surly guards who tapped their spears and bardiches to the ground in salute of the new arrivals. 

Filia looked around in bewilderment at her surroundings, the walls were all calming shades of blue, the floor in some places was marble and others sandstone, usually a white or brown color. She turned to Xellos who took in the surroundings as if he had seen them before, and when she thought about it, in all likelihood he had many times before. They were finally led to a set of double doors, the maid stopped before them and motioned for them to go through, "just go in and have a seat, ummm"

"Filia, and this is Xellos" 

Her eyes brightened, "Filia and Xellos, well then she should be with you shortly..." she curtsied briefly before exiting the small entranceway. 

Xellos looked at Filia, "well then..."

"un" she responded nodding as they pushed open the double doors. 

Revealed to view was a plain room that held within it a large chair lined with blue cushioning at its center, a table of to the right from where they were and near it a smaller chair that faced one of the many windows that overlooked the sea. The soft breeze and crashing of the waves could be heard from this place, it was very relaxing.

Far from being relaxed Filia and to some extent Xellos were highly agitated. Filia was fidgeting from one foot to the other around the circular room, 

"What's taking her so long?!" she shouted mentally as she continued to pace, "I want to see this person that took my Val!" she clenched her fist as agitation flooded her brain. Xellos stood near the entrance watching her... feeling a little uneasy himself, he could understand her feelings. Though in his mind... _She couldn't possibly have done it... _

Footsteps were heard slowly creeping up from somewhere below. Filia joined Xellos near the entrance, they were both staring at a granite stairway. The footsteps became louder and seemed to be made by two people who became closer and closer as the seconds, minutes, hours, or eternity seemed to slip by...

As the figures approached Filia could swear she heard a kind of warm laughter coming from them. Shadows appeared on the last few steps as Lady Deep Sea Dolphin rounded the last corner of the stairway. She was wearing a revealing bikini as evident by the spaghetti like straps that were uncovered by her fluffy white towel tied around her. 

"That water was really nice today..." she commented cheerfully

"yes, but then again you say its nice everyday" a male companion who followed behind her commented, "yes, I suppose I do" they both chuckled for a brief moment sweetly.

Filia was understandably shocked, "uhm... excuse me" she uttered weekly as she stood next to Xellos. 

The man looked up from the woman next to him, "oh, we have visitors..."

Deep Sea Dolphin looked in their general direction, "oh how nice!" she glowed,

"Xellos its been awhile" the man looked over to Xellos, the water dripping from his sopping brown hair, Xellos nodded smiling brightly, "Nice to see you again, Mortieri, Lucile" 

Mortieri and Lucile moved across the room toward the throne, Filia noticed that the man held onto her hand the whole time even as he helped her into her throne. And that even though she stared at them, or at least in the general direction of them, her eyes never opened even a little. Her eyes widened... _She must be blind!_

Mortieri stood beside Lady Deep Sea Dolphin as she folded her hands in her lap, her beautiful blond curls dampened around her shoulders and down her back, "what would bring you all this way? And with a lady friend no less..." she asked her voice very sweet and full of warmth

Filia was first to answer, "We came because my baby was stolen from me" her voice was solidly determined

Lady Deep Sea Dolphin's features filled with concern, "oh you poor thing"

Filia felt a stirring of guilt for practically accusing her of the heinous crime, "Don't worry" she lifted her head up to gaze at Lucile as she sat in her chair, she was smiling, "it was logical to assume that I was responsible" Filia was about to object to say that she had never thought of it, but she knew she couldn't

"Mortieri, I would like you to go wake as many people as possible and ask if anyone has seen the child, an ancient dragon is not something one would forget" 

"are you sure you will be alright for the time being, Lady?" 

"yes, I'll be fine!" she commented laughingly her dull blue pupils just peaking from her closed lids, "and you don't need to be formal, we're among freinds, call me anata..." 

Mortieri smiled although the slightest look of unease was apparent on him, "very well, anata" he pecked her lightly on the cheek before departing swiftly changing from swim trunks into a formal looking travel cloak. Filia watched the blushing Lucile her mind reeling, _What just happened? What just happened!? **What just happened?! **_The phrase rung around her head as she stared blankly, Lady Deep Sea Dolphin's voice brought her back to some level of consciousness, "The inquiry may should take a day or two, until then you are welcome to stay here in one of our rooms..." 

When Filia glanced again at Lucile she found that she was smiling slightly, "Would you like one room or two?" 

"one" a voice came from her side, Filia saw Xellos smiling,

Lucile's smile widened further, "one bed or two?" 

"Two!!!" Filia screamed out, _I'm not getting that close to him! _She screamed at herself mentally,

"alright then, there's a nice room down the left hall, the last one on your right" 

"Thank you very much" Xellos bowed a jovial smile on his face, Filia made a sheepish kindof bow as she muttered the same thing, "Have a nice night..." Lucile's voice rang sweetly from the throne room behind them. Filia fell in line with Xellos as they turned down the left hallway. She was going to yell at him... for some reason now... what was she angry about? _What was I angry about?_

"well, those two really seem to make a good couple" she commented tentatively looking at Xellos as they continued to walk down the hallway, approaching the last door. 

"yes, they do, they would have to considering they have been married for nearly a thousand years" 

"Naaaaani!?!" 

They arrived at the door, the last one to the right. For some reason unknown to her, Filia felt uneasy as she turned the handle... 

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Chapter Five: The Most Unlikely of Suspects end

Nani – what, the extra a's are for added affect

Kie – pretty, beautiful 

hajimemashite – nice to meet you for the first time 

Well, this one was a fun one to right I must say, I have been eager to meet Deep Sea Dolphin for a long time now and in case many may think this to be way out of character for a fierce Mazoku, things should be very well explained...

Next Up! Chapter Six: Mazoku Can't Love... Can They?


	7. Chapter Six: Mazoku Can't Love Can They?

Author's place of note: Hello again everyone! In response to a few comments I am well aware that a lot of fics have Deep Sea Dolphin being insane or affected mentally in some way by something or someone, usually as a device to make her nice/happy, in my version she's blind and there is a reason for that in conjunction with her character.

I would also like to mention that this following chapter should be fairly dialog heavy, you have been warned all those who hate words :P

Also I know that 'anata' means you in Japanese, however it is the really really informal you often translated as meaning 'dear' it is something married or otherwise couples say to each other, an endearment thing, I hope that clears people up... and now on with the show!

The Status Quo

Chapter Six: Mazoku Can't Love... Can They?

The door swung open revealing a little room. It's walls were a dim blue accentuated by a small light that flickered to life as they entered. The light was situated on a small table between two beds, one had a pink comforter and the other blue. _This seems strangely suggestive..._ Filia sat down on the pink comforter, it felt very soft under her. 

"This feels pretty nice" she admired the bed as she felt soft material of it, she heard a hard rocking sound, looking up to see that Xellos had plopped down on the other bed. "hai, Lucile-san always had the nicest beds, I didn't get enough chances to come here..." he leaned into the fabric of the bed savoring its softness. 

Filia thought it odd that a being that didn't need sleep would like the beds so much, but didn't feel like mentioning it. She looked from the Xellos to the center of the two beds where a window stood looking out into the starry night sky... but wait

"How can there be a window here, doesn't that point to the another room?"

"Every room here has a window that sees out into the night's sky, its an illusion" Xellos yawned sounding very sleepy all of a sudden, 

"is that so" Filia marveled at the window and the beauty she saw through it before resting her head on the pillow. A million thoughts buzzed through her head, what she had just witnessed seemed to defy all that she knew, "Mazoku can't love, its impossible" was one thought that prevailed amongst the others, "but then... what was that?" the scene from moments ago flashed through her mind. That Mortieri kissing Lady Deep Sea Dolphin, her blushing expression, it looked... it looked almost normal, natural. 

She lay for a time thinking, "but then... that look of unease when she asked him to call her 'anata' just for an instant" her mind continued to ring with questions, "how can a mazoku be blind anyway!" 

She sat up slowly, "ne, Xellos..." 

"How did Deep Sea Dolphin become blind?" she looked over as she questioned only to see the Mazoku lying sprawled on the bed, breathing softly, apparently asleep. Filia sweatdropped, "and I thought Mazoku didn't need sleep"

"well then Xellos" she smiled softly, "How did those two meet? How did they fall in love? Can Mazoku love? Can you?" she almost chuckled to herself as she finished asking questions, it was a real load off the mind to ask them even if she didn't receive an answer. 

Still the thoughts in her mind persisted, "I think I need to take a walk" she crept from her bed across the room, slowly opening the door.

She looked down the darkened corridor before walking out into it. Her footsteps sounded off the rock floor as she made her way, deep in thought, through it toward that throne room of Deep Sea Dolphin. 

She walked through the corridor thinking the same thoughts as before, "The bathroom is to your left, third door on the left" a familiar voice floated from the throne room,

"huh?" Filia turned to see Lucile sitting on the smaller chair, papers strewn over her desk. Her hands were moving over the words written on them, they glowed momentarily as she passed. "You were walking around aimlessly and seemed agitated so I assumed you needed to use the bathroom" she commented sweetly as she picked up a pen. 

Filia walked into the throne room and stared as she skillfully signed on the dotted line. She stared as Lucile passed her hand over what she had written, it glowed as the other writing had done.

"I can't see the writing so, with the help of many others, I was able to develop a spell that reacts with the ink so that I can see it" she remarked as she put the pen down on the desk and turned to the direction of Filia, "by the way, I never caught your name"

Filia couldn't think of what to say or ask, but she managed to word out, "Filia, my name is Filia... so that would mean that you are blind then?" Filia felt very strange saying this

"hai, I've been blind my whole life" 

Filia was screwing up her courage to attempt to ask what she had been wondering and thinking over for some time now, "Lucile... err Lady Deep Sea Dolphin, I was wondering... what I really wanted to know was, can..."

"Have you ever walked along a beach at night, Filia?" Lucile interrupted folding her hands in her lap,

Filia felt deflated just as she was about to ask a very important question, "no, I don't think I have..." she could only answer weakly,

"Then why don't we go for a walk, along the way you can ask me whatever troubles you" she stood from her chair, feeling her way forward. Filia saw this and took her hand, "do you want some help?" 

She smiled sweetly, "it's nice of you to offer, but I've walked down these rooms many times, I'm not so helpless"

Filia released her hand as they walked side by side through the throne room and then down the tightly wound stairway. Their footsteps plodded down the stone steps of the stairway leading ever farther down. At each passing step the sound of lightly crashing waves became more pronounced. Filia looked to see that Deep Sea Dolphin was deftly managing the curving, uneven stairway without having to hold on to the wall or to her, _for someone who cannot see she's pretty remarkable..._ She thought whimsically as they rounded the last bend...

Filia turned forward to see a magnificent sight. The light of the full moon and clear starry sky illuminated the sandy beach. The beach stretched out for miles, encompassing all that could be seen. The waves came upon the beach, at times lapping gently, at times crashing forcefully against the sand. 

"Kie" was the word that came to mind and instantly to the lips of Filia who stood at the entrance to this splendor. 

"isn't it?" Lucile stepped out into the sand, "I have always loved the sea at all times of day, but the night has always been the best" Filia followed her as she instantly came in step with the tide line, the water just lapping against her ankles as it came rolling in. 

"Forgive me for asking, but if you cannot see the sea why would the night be any different than any other time?" 

Lucile slowed her pace down eventually coming to a stop facing the sea. A cool breeze blew swiftly as a larger wave crashed sending forth a cascade of tiny droplets. "I like it best at night because..." she paused reflecting, "of the cool breezes during summer, the smell that always seems sweeter at night, and..." another wave crashed to the sandy surface, "enjoying these things with the one you love" 

"What was that?" Filia hadn't heard her whispered comment standing next to her, "nothing" Lucile walked a few steps down the beach, "I'll tell you in a minute..." 

Filia walked a little quicker to catch up to her, _What should I ask first?_ Came to mind as she again reached the side of Deep Sea Dolphin. _Alright then how about this..._

"umm, Deep Sea Dolphin?" 

"hai?" she turned her head from the front to look at Filia

"I was wondering, a short time ago when you addressed Xellos you said 'and with a lady friend' How did you know I was there?" 

Lucile chuckled slightly, "oh that, being without sight as I have been your other senses become heightened... I can sense many things that anyone with sight couldn't, like emotions"

"emotions?" Filia was slightly puzzled 

"hai, only women feel a certain way..." she trailed off as another wave crashed to the surface, another thought came to Filia

"Then without even knowing me, how did you know that my baby was an ancient dragon?" 

Lucile stopped suddenly her face serious, "well, you see..."

Filia stopped next to her turning to see her face break into a smile, "I saw you and Xellos and just assumed that, well..." 

Filia's entire face turned beat red, "Your wrong!" _To think that she would think I had a baby with Xellos! _She thought angrily as Lucile had a moment of laughter

"I'm just kidding! Just kidding" she managed to control herself enough to say, "but then again your amount of blush does tell me something, hmm..." 

Filia just humphed, "Actually I heard of it the same time the rest of the Mazoku and Ryuzoku heard of it... the last Ancient Dragon in the world does not go unnoticed" her voice seemed solemn toward the end 

"Nani?" _why is Val so important to Mazoku and Ryuzoku, what is so important about ancient dragons anyway! _She thought angrily staring at the sand below her, her hands clenched, she bottled this up inside before looking back at Lucile, her hands were clasped in front of her as she gazed back at the sea the moon had dipped to the latter half of its flight across the sky. 

Filia looked to see that she wasn't wearing a ring, a fact that puzzled her, 

"Lady Deep Sea Dolphin..." she knew this question would bring her down a very uncomfortable road, but it had to be asked... it just had to,

She turned toward Filia, "Call me Lucile" 

Filia nodded slightly, "Lucile you are married to that Mortieri right?" 

"hai" her voice brightened at the mentioning of his name, "for many happy years now..." 

"Well, I wanted to know..." she screwed up her courage to ask this another wave churned up the sandy surface,

"Mazoku can love" 

Filia felt as if the whole world stopped for a moment, the words that she had heard Lucile say were... were... impossible, improbable, unlikely, terrific, happy, wonderful...._true, _a small voice spoke in the back of her head, a blush crept up on her which she shook off quickly, "but how can that be? How can you..."

Lucile turned to her, "well, we have to have some kind of affection or else we wouldn't be able to procreate" 

Filia blushed lightly, "I see, but what about..."

"The fact that we 'eat' hatred, sadness, and pain?" 

"umm, hai" she felt strange having her sentences finished for her

"Well, to say that we 'consume' hatred and so forth isn't right" she ran her hand through the frothy waters that lapped up from the sea. 

"It would be more accurate to say that we as a whole are sustained by these things, that are existence in this world is sustained by the dark energies emitted in this world" 

She stood up straight, still facing the sea, "A man stubbing his toe would feel pain and anger, I would say that there are enough people in this world stubbing their toes to sustain all Mazoku for much of eternity" she faced Filia again, "some have said that when they witness the pain and sadness of others that it tastes good, that each has its own unique flavor like they were describing food, but the only thing it does for them is to give them a little boost of energy or a euphoric feeling" 

Filia could only look at her feet as she processed this information, _So that is how it is..._

"Then what... what does it feel like? For a Mazoku to... love" was what she had wanted to ask ever since she had seen the blushing face of Lucile that short while ago...

She watched as Lucile walked a pace further into the throng of water that spread from the sea, a hand clasped to her chest, "Some say it feels terrible, like you enter a place where nothing seems certain and the actions of others seem unclear... some say it hurts and they are weakened by the very thought of it... this is why most relationships between our race are one night stands where monogamy and polygamy are not even factors" she paused staring wistfully into the sea, "For me, at first it was much like this, I would see him and my heart would beat faster... I would blush when he approached me and suddenly the whole world didn't feel **right**... everything seemed unclear and in truth to this day it still feels this way" 

She walked from the water onto the dry sand, "It's like a battle, you have seen hundreds of them and know much about them, but each time it is different, each time you are uncertain and feel afraid" 

Filia was filled with a strange feeling staring into the face of Lucile, the feeling she had described sounded so much like _puberty, the feelings of a normal girl in love..._

"_But that's impossible!" _a stronger more familiar voice burgeoned forth in her mind, "_she's a Mazoku they can't love! They feed off of death and terror and hatred! They can never..." _

_What about Xellos? _The small voice struck up again

She was broken from her reverie by Lucile's voice, "but beyond that feeling is something wonderful, something that makes life worth living... that is what I have found" she smiled sweetly, though she seemed slightly uncomfortable, moreso though she seemed contented 

"is that the same for all Mazoku? That feeling..." 

She shook her head slightly, "I can't speak for all Mazoku... is their someone in particular you want to know about?" her smile widened, her voice containing a hint of suggestion, Filia blushed slightly her face turned slightly to the side, "I'll just tell you about one Mazoku who sticks out in my mind as different from any others I know" she continued, staring off into the moon as it continued to move slowly toward the horizon. 

"Everyone who has ever spent time with Xellos has remarked that he was different, that there was something about him that wasn't normal" 

"eh! In what way?" she wanted desperately to know what she meant...

"They say that, among other little things, he is strange in that he is able to do affectionate things, commenting about love without shuddering or showing any kind of insecurity that most if not all Mazoku would"

Filia felt very strange, her memories of the past few months coming to the surface in a jumble. Then from this, or possibly as a way to staunch the onslaught of emotions and memories that were now flooding her mind, a thought came to her mind as she stared at Lucile, 

"Lucile, if you are married then... why don't you have a ring?" 

Lucile stared at her, she felt her hands for a moment, her ring finger in particular. A kind of longing appeared on her face, "It was decided a long time ago, for the good of the world that we wouldn't wear it anymore" her voice was filled with a strange tone of remembrance 

"Forgive me for asking this, but what does that mean?" Filia's curiosity was bulging from her as she heard her tone of voice. 

Lucile stared at the moon that was now ¾ of the way along the sky, she seemed slightly uneasy at the question, "I think that that and the matter of the Ancient Dragons are something which you should ask Xellos about, as for me..." she raised her head slightly a slight smile, "I have a lot of work to get to.." 

Filia facefaulted, after picking herself up "I understand" she said though her mind still buzzed with unanswered questions and even more startling answers... 

"It was a nice walk... I wish I could stay longer, but a kingdom is made up of 10% personality, 10% reputation, and 80% paperwork" she smiled slightly, a single wave crashed to the sand the spray outlining this, 

"Would you like me to walk you back or shall we find our own way?" 

Filia was a little dazed but answered, "I think I can make it back by myself"

"Alright then..." she finished with a wide smile, "Have a good night" she concluded before promptly disappearing into darkness...

"ha" was all Filia could utter as she kneeled to the ground. The sand felt rough and gritty against the material of her dress. The sea breezes blew by her, the waves lapped up near her and for a moment the world around her was peaceful. With this her mind cleared, she opened her eyes to stare at the sand, grasping some of it in her hand she watched as it fell through her fingers, 

"The sea is a really... nice place" she smiled lightly before getting to her feet once more and disappearing in a flash of light...

Two or three teleportations later and she was at the door of her room. She opened it slowly to find the light off, the light of the full moon shown from the window illuminating Xellos as he lay sprawled on the bed. Filia stared at him and for some reason she couldn't stop, she approached the bed and kneeled before it. 

_What am I doing!? _The familiar voice resounded in her head. She gazed down at Xellos, he had turned during the night and his head now rested on his hand facing her. She could hear his shallow breathing, his face was clearly visible to her, her eyes casually wandered over it briefly stopping at his lips. 

She immediately drove them away her heart pounding in her chest. She glanced back to his face remembering the incident a day ago...

By some force she had fallen on top of him and... and had kissed him. _What happened... why did I do that? _Her face flushed at the memory, "_you didn't do anything it was all that Mazoku's fault! Or if it wasn't him directly then something else pushed you!" _the voice continued its tirade 

She blushed furiously, she found herself being pulled closer to him, by her own action or by some other force she wasn't sure, but for some reason she was drawn closer to him. She was only inches away from him, she could practically feel his slow breathing on her face. _What am I doing! What's going on! I don't want to do this! Or do I? Of course I don't! But!.... But..._

She closed her eyes...

"_okasan" _

She stopped suddenly, her eyes flew open as she heard Xellos's whisper, she saw...

Xellos's eyes had fluttered open slightly, she stared into two pools of amber. The moonlight reflected from those deep pupils, within them she saw... she felt pain, sadness... loss,

Xellos rolled over on his back, his eyes were fully closed apparently never leaving unconsciousness.

Filia cocooned herself under her blankets, she brought the covers up to her head, "what the hell is going on!" she mentally screamed as she pulled the covers over her head...

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Chapter Six: Mazoku Can't Love... Can They? End

Well, I enjoyed righting this, although over the course of writing it, it didn't get into nearly as much of what I wanted it too, I'm sure I'll be able to correct that... 

Next Up! Chapter Seven: What Trickster's Do...


	8. Chapter Seven: Deceit or Death

English is one of the most difficult languages anyone can learn, only a natural speaker of the language could truly say that about it... its very easy to see its perplexities and strangedies, so to all those who are trying to learn it I commend you in your efforts

What are those things in Filia's hair? I can't quite put a finger on what to call them...

The Status Quo

Chapter Seven: Deceit or Death? (formerly What Trickster's Do...)

Filia opened her eyes slowly... her muddled mind could hear birds chirping in the beautiful spring morning. She could feel the warmth of the sun through the covers she had pulled over her head the night before, _Feels like a nice day today..._

She slowly pulled away the covers as she sat up in her bed. Her hair fell down unburdened in a golden cascade of pale yellow. She looked around for a few moments, her eyes scanning the room unfocused. She pulled the offending strands of hair back and out of her way before noticing that Xellos was leaning against the opposite wall staring at her, a cup of tea in his hand. 

"Ohayo Fi-chan, sleep well?" the sound of his voice accentuated by the chinking of fine china as his cup hit the coaster

"huh? Ah, yeah I did... umm what time is it?" 

Xellos scratched his chin in contemplation, gazing out into the window. "well... not having a clock I would have to say it is sometime between sunrise and noon" 

Filia fell backward onto her pillow, "thank you Xellos that helps me very much" she sighed

"It's good to be helpful" _The tea here is really good..._

Filia lay for a moment in her bed, sniffing the delicate fragrance of the tea that wafted toward her, hearing the gentle clink of cup hitting coaster as Xellos drank it. She was just about to scramble out of bed when her now not sleep addled mind noticed that her hair adornments were now resting on the little table next to her. Her eyes narrowed...

"Xellos..." her voice carried a deadly sweet tone

"hai, Filia" 

She shot up from her bed starring at Xellos, "what are you doing there!" 

Xellos put his tea cup down on the little table next to him, "why Filia I have merely been sitting here, watching you sleep, respecting you from a distance..."_Drinking my tea..._ his closed eyed jovial tone in full force

"Then how did **these** get out of my hair!" she pointed fiercely at the items on the table 

Xellos smile remained even as Filia advanced on him, "I woke up last night and saw you tossing and turning, I assumed that removing those ridiculous things from your head would make you more comfortable" Filia stopped a foot or two away from Xellos her fists drawn...

Her anger was having a hard time surfacing, "but you still! You violated my...umm... I'm going to..." Filia lowered her hands allowing them to unclench at her side. 

"ahha..." Xellos a small sound come from her bowed head, "something wrong Filia?" he looked more closely at her...

"ah hahahahahahhahahahhahaha!" Filia's laughter rang throughout the room, Xellos backed away slightly as she continued her laughing/chuckling fit for nearly a minute before calming down, "ah ha...ha ha ha" she stopped plopping herself down on the chair next to Xellos, _I can't believe I got so worked up over that..._

She grabbed a cup of tea from the table staring at her reflection in it for a few moments, her hair still hung loosely around her back. She pushed those two pesky bangs back behind her shoulders, _having long hair can be troublesome..._

Placing the cup back down on the table she stood up and began to fiddle with the innards of her dress, apparently looking for something with some difficulty

"Need some help?" Xellos casually commented replacing his cup back on the table

"No I just abouuuuuuut...got it" she removed a hand from some hidden pocket trailing along a long azure ribbon. 

Filia tied the ribbon around her hair, constricting the messy lengths into one long tight ponytail, she finished with a simple bow that held it all in place. 

Filia picked up her tea again blowing on it experimentally she took a small sip, "oishi!" was the first word from her mouth as she lowered the cup, her face aglow with contentment. _The aroma is delicately sweet, the temperature perfect, the flavor is wonderful! Ahhhhh I wonder..._

"ne, Xellos isn't this tea the best" her voice was a euphoric childlike tone

"hai, its some of the best in the world" Xellos commented as he put his cup down on the table next to the half empty pot

Filia stared at her cup as the steam slowly rose from it, a light breeze blew through the window as the warm sunlight crawled across the floor. Somewhere the sound of a chime sounded in the wind, she took another sip of tea, _Last night..._

"_**Mazoku can love" **her voice sounded so sure, so sincere... what am I to do about this?_

Chinking porcelain met her ears, she turned to look as Xellos held the cup in his hands, the sunlight illuminated his features. His cloak and staff were gone leaving only that yellow shirt and black pants he seemed to favor so much, _but then again it would be kinda hypocritical of me to mention that... _she thought staring at her own formal attire. Her eyes wandered up to his face, staying there for a moment. She saw how the brightness of the sun illuminated his face, but did nothing to shine on the yellows of his eyes. They remained the same no matter the circumstances, as usual. _But what about that time..._

Her memory wandered back to the very last thing she remembered the night before, her face turned beat red at the memory of her near kiss..._what the hell was I thinking?!? _

A chibified version of Filia waved miniature arms fiercely, 

"Something wrong Filia?" Xellos sweatdropped as he stood watching her

Filia turned swiftly, "eh? No nothing, nothing at all!" she shook her head fiercely driving the blush away. She turned away from him for a moment staring at the door, "Xellos..." 

"hai?" he now stood next to her smiling like usual, she tried to prepare herself for what she was about to ask, "I was...I was wondering, what..." ***Knock Knock***

A sudden soft knock rapt the door, "hai?" Xellos responded opening the door swiftly. The door opened revealing a woman about Xellos's height, her hair a deep gray with a tint of blue.

She bowed slightly her dull red eyes unreflective in the bright sunshine, "sureshimasu, Xellos-sama, Filia-sama, my master has requested you meet with her" she turned her light blue cape billowing as she moved a few feet into the hallway, "please, follow me" 

Xellos and Filia followed her as they walked through the hallway, Filia fumed. _How come every time I'm trying to say something important **this** happens or **that** happens agh!_

Her face contorted in malevolence as her anger rose. Xellos glanced behind him as they walked through the hall, "yare yare Fi-chan temper"

They reached the outside fairly quickly, continuing down a small dirt path that led to a wondrous garden. The earthen path became an expertly cobbled one as they walked between countless beds of wildflowers. Reds, yellows, blues, oranges, violets and purples abounded in a myriad of types and styles of flowers arranged all around. The birds were singing softly in the cool air of spring, it was truly peaceful and heavenly. Filia couldn't help but smile as the various scents of flowers and trees wafted through the air. 

At the center of this gargantuan floral expanse was a very large and very old oak tree. And beneath that was a small table where Lucile and Mortieri now sat. The servant woman stopped just in front of this area, she bowed respectfully, "I have brought Xellos Mettalum and Filia Ul Copt as you requested master" 

Lucile and her husband stood from their seats, "thank you Lumiere, I believe you have some dishes to wash then?" 

"I refuse"

"you refuse?" Lucile's voice became mock angry, "I can't stand for this insubordination"

Lumiere bowed her head, "I will except any punishment you see fit, master" 

Filia and Xellos looked at each other and then back to the scene before them. Lucile walked a few paces Mortieri at her side, "very well, I sentence you to an entire afternoon of work in the garden" 

"hai, my master" Lumiere curtsied as her smiling face belied her clearly mazoku eyes. She ran off like a little schoolgirl down a cobbled path. Lucile chuckled as she and Mortieri approached Xellos and Filia.

Xellos was first to speak as he watched her run down the lane, "I see Lumiere is still the gardening nut she was years ago" a cool wind blew slightly as he finished, "yes, she sure has a thing for it..." Lucile trailed off as she stared at them

"You said that you wanted to see us?" Filia held her hands clasped together in front of her, "did you find anything?" her voice was filled with hope. 

Lucile's expression wilted slightly, "My husband has informed me that he has nearly completed his search, and as yet has not found any clue" the air became weighted as a silence enveloped, "oh, I see" 

"but don't worry I still have one more individual to see and him out of all the others has the greatest chance of knowing something" Mortieri commented reassuringly

"hontoni!" Filia couldn't help but scream, "I should come with you, I feel like I haven't been involved in this at all..." 

"That would work perfectly!" Lucile interjected clasping her hands together, "while your gone I can catch up with Xellos" she commented sweetly as she grabbed Xellos's hand practically pulling him down the road, "I'll see you all later then!" her voice trailed behind her, "wait" _That was sudden... _Filia held her hand out slightly, but thought it futile as they quickly disappeared some distance away, 

"well shall we go then?" Filia turned to see Mortieri standing a few feet away in a elegant traveling cloak. She nodded, "hai, thank you" 

"not at all" he smiled sweetly, they began to walk slowly down a cobbled path that led outward toward a large group of trees. 

Lucile took a few steps forward leaning down to feel the soft petals of a wilting tulip, "I assume you didn't drag me away so forcefully to look at the flowers, pretty as they are..." Xellos leaned down next to her, she turned to face him, "you assume correctly, Xellos" 

She gave the tulip a soft stroke before standing straight and walking a small way down the cobbled path, "I wanted to discuss something of importance with you" 

Xellos followed her, his cloak billowed slightly behind him, and his staff tapped against the stone as he walked, "oh, and what would that be?" 

"Filia came to see me last night, we had a nice walk on the beach..." 

"is that so?" _I thought she went to use the bathroom..._

"yes, and we had a great deal to talk about..." she walked lazily down the cobbled road, Xellos had caught up with her and they walked side by side. "Anything interesting?" 

Lucile chuckled slightly, "yes very, although I keep all my conversations private" _especially this one... _"I can tell you that some of the questions she asked involved me, some you, and some **us**..."

Xellos stopped walking, he stared straight ahead of him in shock, "And what did you tell her?" 

She chuckled slightly again, "don't worry, don't worry, anything about you is your business, but I told her to ask you about the other things, about that past, and about me" 

A silence ensued as the two walked forward once more, they were approaching a small group of birch trees. "so I wanted to tell you that anything regarding me and my life that she may ask you is fine to answer" she placed a hand against the firm wood of the birch tree as the sun became hidden behind a small cloud in the sky. Xellos nodded at this as he leaned his back against the tree, "and Xellos..." 

"yes, Lady Deep Sea Dolphin Lucile-san?" he responded jovially still

"I want to know... what **Fi-chan **is to you"

Xellos looked at her in shock, "eh?" 

The sun had been obscured for some time now as the forest became thicker and more swampy. Filia trudged along through the ever moistening earth, _I wonder what Xellos is doing now? _

An image of Xellos on the ground shirtless with an equally scantily clad Lucile on top flashed through her mind briefly, _I seriously doubt that..._

Filia turned her head to Mortieri, "where exactly are we going again?" 

"A little deeper in this swamp is someone who might be able to help you find your child" his voice sounded serious, "although the information comes with a great cost..."

Filia shuddered as a cool wind blew through the trees, "what kind of cost?" 

Mortieri stopped suddenly in front of a large pool of swampy muck, "don't worry about it, my wife has agreed to he sacrifice..." 

"sacrifice?!" Filia was quite unnerved now

"we're here" as his words reverberated through the swampy water the pool began to bubble and writhe with activity. The water rose up revealing a small elderly man, his hands were clutching his ears that were overly large and hung down several inches from his heavily wrinkled face. Water rolled down his shriveled body as it made its way back to the pool, he spoke in a voice that seemed to further accentuate his age, "ahhh, Mortieri long time no see... I heard you discussing of me four miles away you know, a disgruntled food stealer am I?" he sneered at the young man 

Mortieri fidgeted slightly, "err, no your not a food stealer or disgruntled" _Yes you are..._

The old man smiled, "that's all I wanted to hear... and whose this?" he turned to Filia, "ah yes must be Filia Ul Copt, I've heard much of you, of course hearing is all I do these days..."

Filia felt very uncomfortable staring at this elderly man, "umm, who are you exactly?" 

The man nodded in understanding, "oh yes, oh yes, I forgot you were never told about me, I was listening to your conversation out of boredom you see... my name is Kikujin, I listen to things." 

"oh, is that so?" _That can't mean..._

Mortieri took a step forward his features now serious and stern, "Kikujin, you kind generous philanthropic young shell of a person, I have a favor to ask you..." _I think I'm going to die..._

The old man turned to him, "yes, and what would that be? Or could it be that baby you have all been harping on all this time?" 

Mortieri's eyes narrowed, "yes, that is exactly the assistance we need, did you hear anything regarding this baby?" his voice became pleading

"I did..." he paused scratching his chin briefly, "but it will cost you most severely" 

_What could he possibly want that is so terrible to be called a 'sacrifice' _Filia was paying close attention to the silence that followed, "two dozen of Lucile's famous muffins!" 

"that is too much and you know it you food stealing demon!" Mortieri and Kikujin clashed in anger sharing deadly glares.

Filia facefaulted, _I somehow had a feeling this was going to happen, but muffins..._ she was now in a dark corner repeating the word 'muffins' over and over again. After a verbal slinging match the deal was arranged at 5 muffins and a scone, Mortieri did his best to hold back his tears as he accepted this deal. 

"now then, what have you heard?"

Kikujin leaned back in the water contemplatively, "I heard what happened to that baby of yours..." 

"you understand perfectly what I mean Xellos, I'm blind not **blind" **_Honestly you blush like a little girl..._

Xellos smiled all traces of uncomfortableness gone, "I know perfectly what you mean Lucile-san I just enjoy making you frustrated" _Tee hee..._

Lucile stood beneath the shade of an oak tree, Xellos sat out on the limb. "Well then answer the question" 

Xellos played with a small leaf as he spoke, "I think that I want to be with her... I can never speak for the future, but for right now, I think, that is how I feel" he disappeared from the tree limb reappearing next to Lady Deep Sea Dolphin, "is that the kind of answer you wanted?" 

"yes, actually that is what I was looking for... however" she walked back down the cobbled path, "hypothetically what would the future hold for you two?" 

Xellos smirked as he followed her, "sore wa himitsu desu"

"what do you mean? What happened to him!?" Filia shook with apprehension, 

The elderly man stroked his bald head with a free hand before answering, "hmm, it was roughly two days ago... I was listening around the kingdom of Saillune when I heard a woman screaming to my left... I recognized it as that Merri Thompson everyone has been talking about as the next Knight of Ceiphied... I usually focus in on female screams because it is either followed by a slap or... sounds that remind me of my youth" _Hee hee..._

Filia decided to overlook this comment, "and what happened after... the scream..." her voice faltered as she knew this was only moments before she had found her friend near dead on the ground, the memory was still fresh and painful.

"I heard her scream in pain and then yell 'TRAITORS!' then someone collapsed to the ground and all I could hear was that baby's bawling" _It really hurts the ears..._

Filia fell to her knees, it would seem that what she had feared the most had come to pass before her eyes. "How could they? How could they do this to me again? How dare they betray me again!" her voice choked as tears flowed down her mingling with her rage. Her tears continued to flow unchecked, Mortieri moved to comfort her, but she got to her feet and ran swiftly back into the swamp. Mortieri moved to follow, "Wait Mortieri..." he turned to Kikujin who shook his head solemnly, he simply stood staring at the ground before disappearing into the dark. 

Filia ran through the swamp, she ran wildly through the brush, tripping on roots and low plants as she madly dashed, "Of course! It all makes sense now! They just can't stand me having a moment of happiness in my life that has to be it!" she tripped and fell on the moist earth, she clenched the soft forest floor as she cried into it. _Why! Why did you take him from me! _She quickly stood throwing the bits of dirt and leaves in her hand as hard as she could, they collided harmlessly with a nearby tree. "Why!" she fell against a slim tree sobbing fiercely into her lap. 

"I bet you plan on knocking her up, marrying her, and having hundreds of kids all in the next four years" 

"You would loose that bet, I assure you..." Xellos was getting slightly annoyed, for the past 15 minutes Lucile had been on the subject of guessing his future, it was getting a little out of hand...

Lucile took a long sip of a cup of water she now held, "Well then I think you will not knock her up, but you will get married because you don't want to be apart for even an instant" _So romantic..._

"ah ha ha ha, I have no idea" Xellos held a hand behind his head as he leaned back against a wicker chair next to the big oak. A shimmering sound was heard as Mortieri appeared from the astral plane, "hey Mortieri-san come guess how many kids I'm going to have! And then tell me how many you are going to have! And then tell me why you two haven't already had any!" _It's such a fun game..._

"Xellos don't yell!" a blushing slightly flinching Lucile stood from her seat as she grasped her husband's hand. "hai hai Luci-chan, by the way where's Filia?" Xellos appeared by Mortieri, but couldn't see anyone around, he even scanned the horizon briefly, but no luck. 

"Xellos..." Mortieri sounded serious, "hai?" Xellos stared back with the same seriousness in question form.

"Filia was greatly disturbed by what Kikujin said, she ran off into the forest..." 

"nani?!" _Does that mean she knows who took Val?_

"That's terrible!" Lucile put her foot down, "Xellos you march over there right now and comfort your companion or I'll Jitenha you!" her face filled with malevolence, Xellos shuddered, "hai, I'll go right away then, Deep Sea Dolphin-sama" he ran quickly in the direction of the forest...

Filia trudged through the murky swamp. Her head was bowed, a few tears fell as she walked aimlessly forward. Her front was covered in dirt and muck where she had fallen, her face and hands were no less dirty. Afternoon was coming on, the sun had sunk low enough in the sky to be seen through the trees ahead. She stumbled on a root, falling to the ground as she reached a clearing, she mumbled soundlessly as she lay on the ground, _It would be so much easier if it were a Mazoku, why couldn't it have been Dynast or Zellas, then it would have been easy... then it wouldn't hurt so much, this pain..._

"Filia?" she looked up with a start as the familiar voice resounded in her ears, "Xellos..." she saw the purple haired mazoku standing ahead of her in the clearing. Against the backdrop of the afternoon sun he stood, "Xellos!" not thinking she ran toward him so quickly that she knocked him to the ground. 

"They took him from me! My own race betrayed me again!" she sobbed into his chest as they remained on the ground, Xellos sat up wrapping an arm around her. His smile remained, "come on Filia, you knew it could come to this... you said you could handle it if I recall..." 

Filia looked up at him, "I know that! And I thought I could handle it.. but..but they betrayed me again!" she sobbed uncontrollably, "why did they do that? Why did they do that to me?" 

Xellos stood pulling her to her feet as he did, "let's go back..." 

"eh?" she sniffed slightly, he smiled broadly, "it would be best if you got a change of clothes and a bath..." _You must have been rolling in that swamp..._

"Nani?!" _I'm here crying and sniveling my heart out that has just been wounded so greatly by my own race and he has the audacity to say I'm dirty!_

"Xellos!" in a quick movement she bashed him on the head as hard as she could sending him straight to the soft earth. "Stupid good for nothing Mazoku!" she stalked off into the afternoon. Xellos picked himself from the ground nursing a bump on his head, his face still held a broad smile, "I'd rather you be mad at me than sad, Fi-chan" he slowly followed her back toward the waning sun. 

"Good luck on your journey! Be sure to write when you find that baby!" Lucile called after the receding pair. Filia was now wearing a light blue sundress covered by a darker blue coat, truthfully it went well with her eyes. 

"And Xellos be sure not to knock her up too early! Or you might have to deal with unexpected complications!" Mortieri had decided to join in the fun as well...

"I'll remember thank you for the suggestion!" he called back receiving a heavy glare from Filia who continued to walk ahead of him, she was still upset. She had been this way since they had returned to Lucile's home, she had even accused him of spying on her in the bath even though he had only half tried. 

"Come on Fi-chan I was just trying to be helpful in your time of need..." he pleaded pitifully, "heh, you wouldn't know helpful if it hit you" 

"at least your not sad anymore, and that's all that really matters" Filia turned, that last part had sounded serious, but when she saw him his smile had returned. She turned back to he front, sighed, and slowed down so that they again were walking side by side down a dusty road heading north. Filia's hair was still held by the ribbon, she had decided it was far easier and more comfortable this way. 

"so naturally we should visit the supreme elder..." Filia commented her voice very small, "hai, and if not... the world" 

"exactly..." Filia smiled sheepishly 

Kusetsu watched the traveling pair from a vantage point overlooking the road. "They have been traveling for little more than an hour... no activity so far" he sighed, "why has Lord Beastmaster sent me to **watch them**" he sighed again before staring once more at his charges, "yo!" came a childish voice from directly behind him. He almost fell from the tree from fright, "who are you?" he stared at the little girl with white hair who floated parallel to him on the branch. 

She smiled broadly, "I'm surprised you don't recognize me Kusetsu, it's me Snowy" _Tee hee_

He squinted his gaze at her body, her aura became visible to him and it was clear, "Snowy how did you get a human form already?" he sat bewildered on the limb

"My secret!" _buri-buri_

He composed himself quickly, "well, don't bother me I'm on an important assignment" he returned his gaze back toward Xellos and Filia as they continued to walk a few miles away, Snowy's hands clenched as she watched them together, "I can't stand this I have to get closer!" she disappeared, "hey don't! Agh!" Kusetsu disappeared as well following her. 

Snowy reappeared behind some bushes less than 30 yards away from the two. Her eyes blazed as she saw how close they were walking together, _why that little dragon bitch! I'm gonna kill her! _She began chanting a spell, a red glow came to her hand, she was about cast the spell when a bap to her head broke her concentration. 

"What did you do that for?!" she whisper yelled at Kusetsu who had appeared next to her, "If you catch their attention they will know we are following them and then I have to face master and inform her of that fact!" he whisper yelled at her as he shuddered from the thought of having to report to Zellas. Snowy just fumed silently as she glared at Filia through the bushes, they continued to move as Filia and Xellos did making sure to keep a good distance away. 

Xellos turned suddenly very alert. Filia looked back at him, "Xellos... what's wrong?" 

"shh" he put a hand to his lips. The silence of the open fields became deafening, a light wind blew through bush and grass whipping them around. Xellos grasped Filia's hand, she blushed slightly at the touch, "Xellos what's going on?" 

"Get down!" Xellos suddenly pulled her to the ground as a green shot blew over just where their bodies had been moments before. A dust cloud shot forth from the newly formed crater only a few feet away. The air became filled with dust, "_cough cough _what _cough_ what was that!" Filia yelled as she stared through the dust, "something unpleasant" Xellos responded low as a large man appeared before them. He was twice as tall as Filia with green hair and dark yellow eyes, he held a menacing halberd in both hands, its large curved blade gleamed in the sunlight. "sashiburi Xellos" his boisterous voice filled the wide field, "it certainly hasn't been long enough, Ingrid-san, still trying to get my job, ne?" 

The huge mazoku laughed as boisterously as he was large, "yes, and your head and the head of that little dragon plaything you've got will be just the prize I need" 

Xellos looked disgustingly at the man, "I assume than that you were sent by Beastmaster to finish me off?" 

The man smiled as he raised his halberd, "Maybe I have and maybe I haven't, but that's not going to matter in a few **moments!**" he took a gargantuan swing with his halberd. The blade hit the ground with such force that it shook and a large column of air blew out from it straight at Xellos and Filia. "Move!" Xellos jumped a good 30 feet carrying Filia in his arms, the wave just missed them. It collided with a small hill completely obliterating it, Xellos looked back at the destruction assessing the damage, _This isn't good, he's gotten a lot stronger since then, I can still take him, but..._

He looked over at Filia who stood watching the dust settle shocked, but quickly composed herself enough to form a stance of sorts. "daijobu Fi-chan I can handle this..." he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder before turning toward Ingrid. "Xellos..." she breathed feeling the place where he had touched her, _Why be comforting now?_ She smiled slightly regardless at the slight warmth she still felt there, before turning to watch apprehensively at the battle about to commence. 

Xellos took a few slow commanding steps toward Ingrid, "Well, I guess you being here means Lord Beastmaster is aware of where we are already, so I don't have to hold back..." _I hope this works..._

Ingrid ran forward closing the gap in moments, "prepare to die Xellos!" he swung a ferocious swing

**ding! **The sound resounded through the open air as Xellos's staff held back the giant halberd. Both combatants shook at the effort, "it seems you have improved some since five hundred years ago, Ingrid-san" 

"I certainly have, Xellos" with a roar he forced Xellos back with his blade, he pressed forward swinging the halberd multiple times. Xellos was forced farther back as his staff connected with the blows. Ingrid swung low sending a deadly column of air forward, Xellos disappeared to the astral plane reappearing several yards to the side. The column of air continued to press forward toward Filia who stood rooted to the spot, she tried to teleport away but found herself rooted to the spot. _Shit! _Xellos appeared next to her, his presence their broke a feeble binding spell that held her in place, they both disappeared just before the wave hit them. 

As before a large plume of dust was created when the wave collided with another hill. When they reappeared they were caught up in this cloud, it became very hard to see or breathe. The dust cleared slowly, it revealed Xellos standing with an arm around Filia, he let go as he grasped his staff firmly, facing Ingrid. 

"What's wrong Xellos? Don't have any tricks left?" he laughed loudly and annoyingly

Xellos walked back toward him, "I do happen to have one trick that you enjoyed very much, Ingrid-san" his smile broadened as he plunged his staff into the earth

His aura flared around him as it began to split and then divide again. A circle was formed around Ingrid made entirely out of glowing aura. "I hope you enjoy it again..." Xellos's sadistic voice sounded as his eyes glowed red and his face was obscured in darkness. Ingrid looked around confidently at the immense show of power, "I'm sure I will, Xellos" he held his halberd high over his head. 

Xellos smirked evilly before raising a hand forward,

All around the shifting aura chain shot forth immense energy at its center, Ingrid was being pummeled by what looked like electricity and dark flame being shot forth. He was being hit from all sides screaming in pain he was nearly lifted off the ground, then his expression hardened gritting the pain. "Not this time Xellos!" he marshaled all his strength, the blade on his halberd glowed a fierce red as he swung it to the ground. The earth shook violently as an explosion of swirling dust and rock shot forth in all directions. It pierced and blew away all the aura leaving nothing but Ingrid and Xellos in the open field. The large mazoku saw his chance dashing forward quickly he smashed his full weight into Xellos knocking him to the ground, he lay there dazed by the blow. Ingrid twirled his massive halberd in the air, "it ends here!" 

Xellos tried to roll away but only managed to roll to his back before the blow hit... **crash** the ground shook once more as the point at the bottom of the halberd drove straight through him. 

Filia watched in horror as Xellos lay in agony on the ground skewered by the large weapon, "Xellos!" she screamed dashing forward,

"nigate..." she stopped in her tracks, "nigate Fi...chan...before..." his head feel limply to the ground, his body disappeared in a cloud of darkness leaving behind only his staff and cloak. Filia collapsed to the ground, "Xellos? Xellos?! XELLOS!"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Chapter Seven: Deceit or Death end

Wow! This took quite some time to finish, during which I was stuck on one part in the beginning that held me up for countless days...

I was surprised how much in some scenes my original conception of this chapter was forced to change, but I feel that in the end it was all worth it...

Next up! Chapter Eight: Surprise! Mysterious Ancient Dragon?


	9. Chapter Eight: Surprise! Mysterious Anci

The Status Quo

Chapter Eight: Surprise! Mysterious Ancient Dragon?

Footsteps resounded upon the white marble flooring. Lucile and Mortieri walked into her throne room stopping at its center, "it certainly was nice seeing Xellos again, a shame it had to be under these circumstances" 

"un" Lucile nodded lightly, "it really was..." 

"Is something wrong?" her husband wrapped his arms around her looking deeply into her face, a light blush crept up on her face, "no, nothing is wrong!" she waved her hands dismissively, "are you sure? I can tell when your lying..." _If it has something to do with Voirlendi or Virvieri I want to know..._

Lucile uncoiled herself from his arms giving him a light peck, "nothings wrong, I just have to call Zellas now" 

"oh" he took a step away, "I have some paperwork to get to then" he turned to leave but stopped as he felt her grab the hem of his cloak, he looked toward her blushing face. "Don't worry when this is all over we can get back to those... nightly pursuits we enjoy so much... It just doesn't feel right now" 

He grasped her hand giving it a light squeeze, "I understand" he disappeared into the dark. 

She brought her outstretched hand to her chest reveling in the warmth that still clung to it before feeling her way toward her throne. She sat down in it as a small screen appeared from a small crystal embedded in the handle of the chair. It revealed the back of Lady Beastmaster's long blond haired head, "Have they left already?" she questioned calmly a plume of smoke rising from where she undoubtedly carried her cigarette. 

"hai, Zellas-san" her voice remained its cheery self

Zellas turned slowly taking another drag of her cigarette and puffing it into the air, "and how were they?" 

Lucile could barely contain a chuckle, "Imagine Mortieri and I during the Koma War"

"Good..." Zellas smiled in a deeply predatory manner, "If anything else should surface on your end keep me informed..." the screen flashed and then disappeared, Filia looked toward her large window knowing that beyond it a beautiful sunny day existed. "I wish we had never created it... that seal" 

A swift breeze blew through the open fields, long grass and bushes were whipped around by its force. Filia didn't even feel it, she was kneeled on the ground her hair obscuring her eyes. A small tear fell down her cheek followed by another, "Xellos..." 

"IIEEEEEEEEEEEE!" 

The scream broke her from her daze as she whipped her head around to see a young girl with white hair standing from some bushes. Tears rolled down her face as well, "Ingrid I'll kill you!" she was attempting to run into the field when a young man with brown hair and pale yellow eyes held her back from behind, "let me go Kusetsu! I'm going to kill you! You bastard! Let me go!" she screamed loud enough to catch the attention of Ingrid who stood proudly holding Xellos's cloak and staff. The young man was having trouble holding her back, "calm down Snowy!"

"heh, I'd like to see you try little girl! I've just defeated Zellas's greatest general and priest, and it was far easier than I had ever imagined!" he followed by a peal of some of the worst laughter ever recorded in history, 

Snowy ground her teeth together fiercely as she attempted to cast a spell, a menacing red aura surrounded her. Before she could she and Kusetsu disappeared into darkness. Filia now stood rigid, facing Ingrid who slung the cloak over one shoulder. 

"Now all I have left to do is deal with you and I will be rewarded the position I was always meant to have..." he walked casually forward reveling in his success. 

"I'll kill you..." Filia whispered softly

"eh?" the mazoku leaned closer straining to hear

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Filia's own golden aura exploded around her; not for the first time in her life Filia was angry... 

"oh? And how do you expect to do that little dragon? When not even the great Xellos could" he held out his great halberd in one hand Xellos's staff in the other. Filia glared at the mazoku she stood at the ready about to cast one of the few powerful God Spells she knew... Her hands crackled with energy as she bent low about to speak the words, Ingrid expertly brought his halberd up high with one hand, "sayonara, dragon!" 

He swung the great blade down, she brought up her hands prepared with a shield spell, suddenly the blade stopped...

"aaaahhhhhhgggg!" Filia watched as the large mazoku screamed in agony he gripped his left hand with the other. The jewel at the top of the staff glowed menacingly as did the rest of it a burning red. It seemed to almost burn with flames as it forced Ingrid's hands from it, the staff floated in the air... 

"yare yare Ingrid-san It would seem the great Xellos has tricks left afterall" the staff disappeared in a flash of light. Ingrid scrambled to pick up his halberd, fear ran through his eyes and face, he was chalk white. "I defeated you Xellos! I killed you!" 

Xellos appeared high above them appearing and disappearing in intervals as he fell downward. 

"haaaaaa!" he swung with the full force of his glowing staff, splitting the mazoku in half down the middle. He landed on the ground, a cross swing and Ingrid was nomore... Xellos turned to face Filia, his tattered cloak floated safely into his arms. She stood only a few feet away from him, "Xellos..." _So it was all a trick... huh that's interesting..._

Xellos put his hand behind his head, "I apologize for anything my dopalganger might have said, he has a tendency toward the overdramatic" he laughed a little unconvincingly

She took a few steps toward him, "Xellos could I see that staff for a minute?" she asked sweetly, "ah, sure..." he handed the staff over to her. She swung it a few times, finding it to be very light, but conveying a feeling of intense power. "This has a very nice swing to it..." she commented nonchalantly

"yes it does" he responded jovially

**whack whack WHACK**! 

"Thank you Xellos I feel much better now!" _I SO just had to hit something or I was going to go insane! _Her sweet voice seemed to ring over the field. Xellos lay in a twitching battered and bruised lump on the ground as she walked back onto the road, he sighed, "ahh that's the Filia I like too" _ite what am I saying?_

Kusetsu remained bowed as his master stood on the top of the steps before him. She held the cigarette to her lips drawing the fragrant smoke from it, the tip blazed its ashes cascading to the ground. 

"So what you are telling me is that Xellos is dead?" she casually blew the smoke into the air, 

"hai, my master" 

Zellas stared passively at the three weapons that loomed before her, "and what of the fate of the golden dragon?"

Kusetsu paled, "umm, I was unable to determine what happened to her, exactly..." 

Zellas turned on her heel, "oh?" she stalked forward casting her cigarette to the side lazily as she sat in her throne crossing her legs, "and what is the reason for this?" 

The servant sweated profusely as he struggled to remain bowed, "I was discovered after Snowy attempted to take revenge upon Ingrid for Xellos's death, master" 

"Is that so?" her elbow was on an arm of her chair, her head in her hand. 

"hai, master" he responded solemnly, he could only imagine the kind of torture that awaited him, his eyes glanced furtively at the weapons to his side. 

"May I ask how a young pup was able to find you **and **take revenge against a powerful enemy?" her voice full of curiosity,

Kusetsu hesitated for a moment, "I am not sure Lord Beastmaster, in fact I was wondering how she was able to find me, I was well hidden..." he paused noting her 'get on with it' expression, "anyway, I was struggling to hold back Snowy who was about to cast a flame spell of some kind..."

"A flame spell?" Zellas interjected, "I was unaware a pup in wolf form was capable of such a thing..." her voice carried a kind of predatory ring to it which matched her smile

Kusetsu gulped, "well, she was in human form, master" 

Zellas didn't look the least surprised, "and where would she be now?" 

"She disappeared after we returned so I am unaware of where she is exactly..." he fidgeted fearfully, 

Zellas sighed deeply shifting her position in the chair so she was practically laying across it. "oh well, it seems everything is going well then, Xellos has been dead before, and I have you for my plaything later..." her expression blossomed into a sadistic smile as she stared down at Kusetsu, "Unless you plan on busily finding Snowy and bringing her to me for that time period, then I may reconsider..." 

"hai, my master!" he took one final fearful glance at her before he quickly disappeared into the dark. 

"Oooooh I love it!" Filia squealed as she examined a finely crafted mace, its pure black metal boasted a strengthening and lightening charm, _as if she needed it..._ nevertheless making it indestructible...

Xellos stared at its plain deadly painful weapon as she tested its balance repeatedly, "Do you really need a new one of these?" he had to comment nervously, "Of course!" _One single step over the line Xellos and **bam! **I feel so much better now..._

"I see you like our great "Nariva" class mace, miss" a young shopkeeper was busy polishing a set of scythes as he spoke

"hai, I love it!"

The shopkeeper laughed lightly, "that's very good for me because it happens to be the most expensive one we have..." Filia's expression fell, _I don't have much money with me **sniff sniff **_She placed the mace back on the counter turning to leave in an utter depression

"but just for you I'll let it go for 15 gold coins" 

"hontoni!" Filia turned around tears streaming down her face instantly seeing the shopkeeper's friendly expression, "hai hai, now would you like anything else?" 

"No, that will be all I need thank you very much" she waited as the man carefully placed the mace in a paper bag, "hai, thank you for shopping" 

Filia grabbed the bag turning to leave, "umm, excuse me..." 

She turned to see his still smiling face, "the coins please" 

Filia flushed, "oh right! I almost forgot how silly of me... Xellos could you pay him?" 

Xellos turned from a compass he was examining, "I'm not paying for that thing! Why should I pay for something I'm probably going to be beaten with?" 

"datte... onegaishimasu..." 

"Not going to happen"

"datte...datte...datte.."

"No!" 

"onegaishimasu onegaishimasu onegaishimasu!" 

"oh alright!" Xellos finally wilted under her puppy faced pouty childlike expression... _honestly your worse than the puppies..._

"arigato Xellos!" _I may just hold off the beating I had planned... but why am I still angry over that? Why was I so hurt by what he did? Making me think he was dead..._

"_You were hurt by it because that mazoku tricked you!" but he wasn't he was tricking Ingrid by pretending to be dead, "Perhaps that is why you were sad..." that he was dead? _

She was broken from her trance when she felt a shake on her arm, "Filia, time to go..." Xellos's voice floated to her ear. She looked around remembering where she was, "Oh right" she looked at the bag he was holding, "arigato Xellos" she grabbed the bag from him ripping the mace out of the packaging. She stared at it momentarily as the sun ricocheted off it, "you are forgiven..." 

"I thought you forgave me back there" he rubbed his where his staff had whacked absently, _it still kinda hurts, to be hit by my own weapon..._

They walked out of the shop and began to walk down the northern road out of the city. It was a large town of some unnamed province that nevertheless expounded in paved roads and stone buildings. Its relatively narrow streets were clogged with people in the busy marketplace, it quickly became vary difficult to get around. 

"hey watch where your going!" 

"gomen nasai!" Filia apologized for the fiftybillionth time she accidentally bumped into someone, _these crowds really are hectic, I'm starting to get annoyed..._

Inexplicably the crowds began to thin, Xellos and Filia found themselves alone down the main road. Xellos looked around, "this doesn't feel right, keep your eyes open..." 

"hai" Filia kept close watch with Xellos as they stretched their senses out as far as possible...

"Get out of the way! Out of the way!" a kart flew through the narrow road

"You call this a good price! I paid at most half this over in Zaria..." 

"Fish for sale! Get your fresh fish, while it still is!" 

In an instant the market place was back to the way it was. 

"umph" Filia was hit by yet another passerby falling to the ground, "watch where your goin'!" the young man screamed at her as he made his way through, "gomen..." she could only respond weakly. She got back to her feat, "what just happened?" 

"I have no idea, though for a moment I felt something very powerful, and familiar..." Xellos's voice became contemplative as they began walking again, he tried and failed to think of where he had felt it before. 

"I wonder if it has anything to do with Val..."

Xellos broke from his thoughts staring at Filia, her voice had been so low and sad...

"daijobu Fi-chan I'm sure the 'great Xellos' will be able to solve this!" his jovial voice mocking that of the late Ingrid. That voice jogged something in Filia's memory...

"Xellos... back there with Ingrid..." 

"hai?"

"did you see a little girl with white hair?" she asked remembering her expression, the sadness and hatred that seemed so prevalent on her face... _how can that be?_

Xellos brought his hand to his chin, "hmm, I was pretty busy at that time, so I wasn't really paying attention..." 

"oh, I see..."

"why do you ask?" Xellos looked at her questioningly

She shook her head quickly, "No reason... I just... her name was Snowy, does that help any?" 

Xellos looked at her strangely for a moment, "I do know a pup named Snowy, but she doesn't have her human form yet..." 

"I see..." _It's probably nothing after all, but..._

They had been walking for a little while now and were close to the edge of the town. It had been built out so much that its edge greatly resembled its center, the streets were still lined with people and wares. Xellos looked ahead, something caught his senses. He held out an arm, Filia stopped giving him a questioning glance, "I sense something..."

A figure stepped from the crowds, its head was slightly bowed and covered by a hood as was the rest of its body in a large robe. Its padding footsteps became the only sound to be heard as it walked slowly closer. Xellos watched as it stopped right next to them, and then ... slowly walked on. Xellos sighed, _I guess it was just my imagination..._

Suddenly a wave of power struck his senses he turned to see the figure turned to him, a dark blue eye peeking from the hood. He watched as the figure quickly ran. 

"matte!" he disappeared, "Xellos what's going on!" Filia yelled after him as she began to run after the figure. 

The person ran through the crowds pushing whomever got in the way easily to the side. The figure quickly rounded a corner to a deserted alley, "umph!" a female voice grunted as it slammed into Xellos.

"thought you could escape? Ancient dragon..." 

The woman looked up from the ground enough so that part of her face could be seen, "I still can..." she disappeared in a flash of light, 

Xellos looked around determined to sense her aura, he phased up into the air...

Filia dashed further down the main road, "Honestly where did that mazoku go so fast!" _And with that woman too... **Investigate**_

She saw Xellos appear up in the air, she was about to call to him before he disappeared again, reappearing a few blocks away... 

"Xellos what are you doing?!" she ran faster...

An empty alleyway sat in the stillness. A bright light flashed and a pair of feet sounded on the paved ground. The woman looked around the alleyway noting the absence of anyone or anything significant. She felt inside her robe and removed a small chronometer from within, it ticked slowly. 

"ichi, ni, san..." she placed it within her robe being sure that she was well covered. 

The first sight Xellos saw as he phased into the sparse alleyway was the woman clothed in the heavy robe. A wind blew through the alley, his cape billowed in it as he stood still eying her. A few minutes pass... "you are an ancient dragon, right?" his voice was low

"hai" she responded cheerfully

Xellos breathed a sigh of relief, "that's good then at least I haven't gone insane, yet..." his smile faded into a frown, "may I ask how you escaped the massacre of your kind? There weren't anymore children then, and all the men and women were wiped out, save for Valteria..." 

She chuckled slightly, "sore wa himitsu desu..."

At that moment a strong wind blew through the alley, it swirled the litter around fiercely and forced back her heavy hood. A long cascade of dark purple hair fell down her back as her head was revealed. Staring back at Xellos through a set of dark blue eyes was a young female ancient dragon. She walked forward confidently approaching Xellos as she stood only a few feet away from him she held out her hand. She held it against his cheek, he stood stoic as she kept it there a moment, "I assume you hate the dragons and mazoku more than anything in your life..." 

She brought her hand down to her chest, closing her eyes for a moment, "iie" 

She opened her eyes, "I love them..." 

"Do you plan on resurrecting Lord Shabranigdo? Or Lady Ciephied?" 

She only smiled lightly, "maybe..." 

"_**What are you doing Xefia? Return here immediately" **_A voice ran through the girl's mind, she inwardly smirked, **_"hai hai" _**

Xellos watched as the ancient dragon smirked in front of him. She took a step forward, he could feel her lips on his cheek as she kissed him lightly before running to the end of the alley and disappearing in a flash of darkness. 

Xellos felt the place on his cheek in shock, "what was that all about?"

His mind decided to relegate these things for further contemplation later while he returned to Filia who must be wondering where he got to. However as he turned he learned this was hardly the case...

"**What was that all about, **Indeed!" Xellos saw one of many Filia's he had come to know, this one was surrounded by flames and sported flashing red eyes. This was the Filia that brought forth great pain, or perhaps he let from time to time...

He waved his hands dismissively, "It's not what it looks like I swear!" _Oh yeah that's gonna work like cold water to a Dragon Slave..._

"Crush!" she snarled as she swung at him, missing as he phased to the astral plane reappearing behind her. 

"Honestly Filia It isn't... wait a minute..." he stopped dodging immediately and as a result was conked on the head. And then again. And possibly a third time... 

Filia stood huffing and puffing from the exertion, "now Xellos, you were going to explain what your falandering was?" 

Xellos got up from the ground that he was pummeled too, "I will only because you care, Fi-chan" 

She looked at him strangely, _"because you care?" What the...? I don't, yes you do! But I don't! Oh yes you do!_ It would seem that the battle within Filia's mind has become more even...

She shook it off repeatedly, "anyway... who was that woman? I couldn't really sense anything from her other than an strong power..." 

"that my dear Filia was an adult ancient dragon..." 

"Ehhhhhhhh!"

A small abandoned cottage stood on the very outskirts of town, a dilapidated room in the front sat empty. Xefia appeared in a flash of darkness she leaned against the aging door frame. She couldn't help but chuckle wildly, "I can't believe I just did that! Ha hahahaha... ha" she breathed a sigh... 

"I can't believe you did that either, Xefia" she knew the voice without turning

"yes well, it's just so good to see them again..." _I can't wait to do it again... tee hee_

"I feel the same as you, however it is far too dangerous to be seen at this time..." 

"hai hai, as you always remind me... Maven-san" she turned to see the woman before her. Her long soft brown hair waved in the light breeze, her bright red eyes shined in the light of the sun...

"As distracting as being here is we must never forget why we came..." 

"hai, how could I forget... Lil' Miss Lsama" she smirked

"Lina Inverse... right?" 

The dull thud of a body contacting the ground resounded throughout the cavern. The girl slowly rose unsteadily pushing her long white hair from her face. Snowy breathed raggedly as she wiped a hand across her bruised face. She steadied herself facing a large group of mazoku before her, "I told you Xellos is dead! We have to go kill that damned Ingrid and those golden dragons right now!..nnnrrgggg kkkk kk.." a cold hand wrapped around her neck lifting her from the ground. A set of cold gray eyes stared into her, she struggled in the air trying desperately to break free. The hand squeezed tighter, "and we have told you that pups have no place making orders!" the man tossed her to the wall. As she slid to the floor he turned from her, "you should be reminded that you are only here because for the moment you serve a purpose..." 

Snowy slowly opened her eyes looking around the room as the various demons in attendance nodded their agreement, she gritted her teeth rising to her feet. 

"Then what would you have me do, Jokatsu-sama?" she tried desperately not to fall back to the wall

Jokatsu stared around at all in attendance before turning to her, "we feel that it is in our best interest that you return to Zellas, give a plausible reason for your interference in her operation, or..." 

He walked back to a rough seat that had carved from the rock, "accept her punishment..." 

Snowy gazed at the faces before her, they deftly nodded their approval. She bows her head, "hai, Jokatsu-sama" _If not here then I will get revenge myself... _she clutched the pendant at her chest, reveling in the memory of it, before disappearing into the dark. 

Jokatsu leaned back in his seat, "now, as for the matter of Xellos... how many here believe what the pup had to say?" 

No one raised their hands or gave any sign of acknowledgment, "good..." his smile widened...

"And as for the matter of the ancient dragon..." he got up from his seat pacing slowly to the center of the cavern. "Is there any lingering doubt regarding who took our prize from us?" 

A mazoku stood from his seat to Jokatsu's right, "hai, Lemure? What do you have to report..." 

The man straightened out a pair of glasses he wore religiously before rolling out a thick parchment, "ahem...It would be of my best determining that the dragons are the most probable. After examining the reports of our spy network, we have determined that no direct or indirect order was given by the three remaining Dark Lords, as well as most of the smaller dominions surrounding their respective territories..." he took a short breath before continuing, "that coupled with the fact that the direction that Xellos was last reported traveling was north, we can conclude that they most likely received information similar to our own that would lead them to the conclusion to seek the Golden Dragon leadership" 

He concluded rolling up the parchment and taking his seat once more on the hard stone. Jokatsu stood in the center of the cavern deep in thought, "It is the conclusion then that we shall begin an exploratory operation..." he turned pulling out a long fencing sword, "we must be absolutely certain of the extent of their involvement before we strike, we shall not have a repeat of 1000 years ago..." 

"I disagree..." a voice wrung out through the shadows

"who is there? Show yourself!" Jokatsu brought his sword to the ready, as did others who looked around bearing their various arms. 

From the darkness of a hidden entranceway soft footsteps were heard. The light slowly pealed away the darkness revealing a young man with short light blue hair and equally ice blue eyes. A long sword hung at his hip almost clanking against the ground with each step, a large shoulder guard rested on his right shoulder, a smaller one on the left helped to support his light blue cloak...

The gathered mazoku stared fearfully, a cold wind blew through the cavern, and the men decidedly dropped their weapons to the ground. They clanged and clattered on the stone floor as Jokatsu remained staring calculatingly into the man who had just arrived.

He smirked, "what would bring you to our little meeting, Lord Dynast?" 

The wind blew warmth through a grassy hill. The sun shown brightly as it moved across the sky... as it waned across the sky. A young brown haired woman lay in the grass, staring into the blue sky, feeling the sun's warmth. She did all these things without realizing it, her mind was elsewhere... with other people, in other times....

She barely registered as the small sound of rustling air, and a shadow cast across her face announced the presence of her tomodachi. 

She flopped down on the grass, letting her long purple hair loose on the grass, "ahhhh! It's so boring now... all they have been doing is walking in silence for an hour now... I should make them do something..." she rose slightly before feeling a warm hand on her arm. 

"Don't even think about it..." Maven voiced through closed eyes

Xefia turned to her, "I thought that would get you up..." she smiled brightly

Maven sat up on the ground rubbing her eyes, "I was dreaming I think..." she yawned slightly as she stretched her arms,

"Oh? A bad dream again?" _those have been happening a lot..._

Maven smiled as she stared at her friend, "no, not a bad dream, but a strange one... I'll talk about it later..." she fell back down on the grass spreading out her arms. 

Xefia stared down at her for a moment before slumping back to the ground herself. They lay for a moment, the sun continued to cast its warmth to the world, its light supplying all things with life... 

"Xefia" Maven stared lazily into the sky

"hai..." she turned her head slowly to her friend

"what happens next? I want to know what to expect..." 

Xefia looked back at the sky, finding funny shapes in the clouds, "ah that, well lets see..." 

She sat up turning to see Maven, "it starts with Dynast..." 

A large expanse of dirt road lay ahead. Filia trudged alongside Xellos as they made their way onward. Filia's head was slightly bowed as she walked, her hair cast a soft shadow over her brow, which was currently knit in frustration. Her mind was spinning in a kind of anger as she trudged along. A little more than an hour ago Xellos had informed her of that girl being an ancient dragon, needless to say she was shocked. However, after he had imparted to her this revelation, he had remained silent about the numerous other questions she had asked. It was almost childish how he'd suddenly remark on how good the weather was, or how the sun reflected so nicely in her eyes, just to watch her blush no doubt! 

Filia turned to see Xellos glancing at her, their pace had slowed considerably over the last hour. She stopped suddenly, "Xellos I've had enough, I want you to answer me!" her voice echoed over quite a distance...

Xellos stopped a few feet away from her, he turned slowly revealing his jovial smile, "what exactly would you like me to answer, Fi-chan?" 

Filia gazed into his pale yellow eyes forgetting her voice for a moment as her words seemed caught in her throat. Xellos continued to stare at her intensely, prepared at this moment to answer what he knew she was destined to ask him...

Filia shook her head slightly, clearing it from its temporary haze she screwed up her courage standing there before him, "I want you to tell me why Val is so important to the mazoku and the rhyuzoku!" she could feel her voice begin to fail, "why they took my baby from me..." her voice was very small and afraid. 

For a moment there was utter silence. Filia felt her vision become cloudy as she stared into Xellos's serious expression, she could feel herself begin to cry. A tear fell as she stood before him, she wanted him to answer this one question so badly, it hurt so badly...

Through her closed eyes she felt the soft warmth of a gloved hand against her skin, wiping away the small tear as it fell. She opened them to see his hand pulling away from her face as he stood close in front of her. 

"It's a long story..." his expression was somber as he walked from her to flop down on the side of a grassy hill. He turned to her, "but I'll tell you anyway..." 

Filia deftly sat next to him on the grass, she nodded as a moment passed between them...

Xellos looked up at the sky remembering with all his strength the events of that day so many years ago...

"It was nearing the end of the Koma War, at the final battle between Lord Shabranigdo and Lady Ciephied..." 

_The time wound back to that day many years ago, the full power of Shabranigdo clashed with the unbridled purity of the mighty Ciephied. Shabranigdo struck forth with a red blast that sent great pieces of earth flying in all directions. Ciephied retaliated shooting forth a large ball of light that struck Shabranigdo knocking him to the ground. He stood once more and they both squared off again. Their minions scattered around the mountains and valleys watched in awe and respect as their Great Lords dueled, they knew the outcome of the war depended entirely on the victor of this one battle. Xellos stood next to his master on the closest hill to where the duel now recommenced..._

"The fight lasted for many days with neither side giving in until Ciephied used her last ounce of energy to seal Lord Shabranigdo away..." 

"Everyone knows that, its common knowledge... what does that have to do with Val?" Filia interrupted impatiently,

Xellos sighed, "I'm getting to that..." _Patience is a virtue..._

He cleared his throat, "ahem, anyway what is not widely known about that event is that Shabranigdo and Gaav were not the only ones to be sealed..." 

_The Great Dragon Ciephied wound her long body high into the sky, Xellos and the rest of the mazoku and rhyuzoku watched as she glowed fiercely. Shabranigdo stared up at her from his place on the earth, the glowing aura that raged around her expanded outward. She continued to chant in a language few knew as the light expanded forth. Shabranigdo watched as a white ring was drawn around him, seven lines were drawn inward to the center of the circle. Gaav flew upward until his height reached that of Ciephied launching an immense stream of flame. Ciephied turned her eyes to him for an instant and in that instant he plummeted to the earth and disappeared. Her attention returned to Shabranigdo as the light around her brightened further until it became blinding even to those of the rhyuzoku who were forced to look away. In that instant no one saw precisely what took place, but when the light faded away what had happened became clear..._

"At that time just before he was sealed, Shabranigdo bounced back the same spell against Ciephied that she used on him... We later discovered that he had sealed her in six parts" 

Xellos paused a moment looking around, his eyes narrowed, a light wind blew and somewhere it seemed a chime sounded, or at least that is how it felt. 

"Something wrong?" 

"no, I just felt a chill for a moment"

He looked back at Filia, "anyway... after Shabranigdo and Ciephied were sealed away... we searched for a few years, managing to find most of the pieces, but then what to do with them?" 

"_I think it would be to our best advantage to resurrect Shabranigdo as soon as possible..." Dynast sat around a large table, the remaining Dark Lords and their servants sat with him. _

"_I disagree, we don't need old Ruby Eyes anymore, we can run things fine ourselves..." Hellmaster leaned back in the chair boredly, "It's not like we can't take out a few dragons ourselves..." he drawled looking at his nails, "What do you think, Zellas?" _

_A slightly younger looking platinum blond woman stirred, pulling her hand from her head, her arm from the table, "feh, I still think we could use his power, if the Golden Dragons were to attack us as we are now, I would like to be assured of our victory" she wore a slightly more modest outfit than her future self. _

"_If they were to resurrect Ciephied before us, then we could be as easily annihilated as Gaav..." _

_The table shook as Zellas fist hit the table, "We do not need to be reminded of that incident, Grauchera" her eyes shown coldly _

_Dynast's face remained its cold calculated demeanor as he shifted straighter in his chair. "May I say something?" a voice called out from the shadows _

_Zellas smirked, "yes, say what you will..." _

_Xellos appeared from the darkness of some unknown plain of existence carrying a tea tray. "I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds, but I don't believe we have heard from Lady VaulGuaDulphur yet, or have I missed something?" a woman with long blond hair recoiled slightly at the name._

_Xellos put the tray down on the table as the woman turned to him, "please call me Lucile, or at most Lady Deep Sea Dolphin" **I hate mother for that name...**_

"_very well then, Lucile-san..." he bowed slightly before standing at attention to the side of the room._

_Lucile moved her hand slowly forward until she grasped the a cup, tea had already been poured into it. She took a sip of it to steady herself, her hands shaking slightly, Mortieri sat next to her, he grasped her hand from under the table. They both sat blushing a moment, fidgeting slightly..._

"_Get on with it already, honestly... your making me sick" Hellmaster played with the balance on the chair switching what foot pressed against the leg of the table. _

"_I think that we shouldn't bring Shabranigdo back... because if we don't then the dragons won't either..." _

_Silence followed... _

"_Are you insane!?" Hellmaster almost fell from his chair,_

"_What makes you think they would do such a thing?" Zellas asked curiously_

"_I as well have a difficult time believing that the Dragons would believe a promise made by us, even if it were sincere..."_

"_I think it should be sincere, we should promise never to bring them back... both of them" Lucile interrupted with more confidence now_

_Another silence..._

"_Are you suggesting a truce?" all eyes narrowed Lucile and Mortieri,_

_Mortieri stood, "yes, we are suggesting just that, if not an end to the hostilities than at least a promise to never resurrect Lord Shabranigdo or Lady Ciephied..." _

_Everyone stood from the table at once, "That sounds like treason to me..." Hellmaster began from his corner a blue aura surrounding him, "it would be fun to get rid of some of this pent of energy..." _

_Mortieri stood in front of Lucile, "if it's a fight you want you will have to go through me..." as he spoke a sword appeared in his hand. Hellmaster snarled, "you think you can handle me little fishy? Heh I'd almost feel bad beating you so quickly..." _

"_what did you say!?" _

"_now, now everyone I don't think this is very productive..." Xellos interjected from an unknown corner of the room, "my servant is right" Zellas sat on an edge of the table tossing her hair back, _

"_we should at least hear all the options available to us, that includes the unorthodox..." the tempers immediately calmed down as those gathered returned to there seats. "If I may continue then?" Lucile questioned the group, Hellmaster turned away in the chair, "feh, do whatever you want" Dynast remained silent and calculating as usual_

_Lucile took a breath, "I believe that if we meet with the Dragons then we can establish some kind of agreement. In some common area we can lay down the pieces we have and then they can lay down the pieces they have no doubt collected. And in that one place they would stay unless both sides agree to unseal **both** of them... never separately" she finished looking around at her comrades contemplating faces..._

_Zellas sighed, "Although I am painfully aware of your reasoning behind this idea..." she flinched slightly at the sight of the two so close together, "I can't help but think it would have an up side..." _

_Dynast raised an eyebrow, "How would giving away our most prized asset be in any way to our advantage?" _

_Zellas smirked, "If they accept our proposal, then we get a break from this war for a little while, but if they don't... well we'd have a large percentage of the Dragon hierarchy right in front of us, to solve this matter one way or the other..." _

_Her words wrung through the room, Lucile sweatdropped, "well, I suppose you could look at it that way..." _

_Dynast sat in contemplation for a moment more, "I can see your point..." he stood from the table turning to leave. As he walked away he removed three small orbs from a pocket within his cloak and tossed them to the table. "You may have the pieces I collected" he disappeared into the dark... Phibrizzo was next to stand, he tossed two similar glowing orbs to the table. "Do with them what you will... I don't really care as long as the world is done ill by it..." he smirked as he too disappeared_

_The table was now nearly empty, Zellas stood with Mortieri and Lucile, Xellos was by them. Lucile unwrapped an orb from a small cloth placing it on the table, "I hope this puts an end to this, then..." _

_Zellas sighed as she stared at them both, "I don't know what got into you Lucile, but..." _

_She placed an orb that appeared in her hand on the table, the seven glowing spheres shined in unison once placed together. "I hope this leads to something interesting..." _

_She smirked as she walked from the table, "come Xellos we're going home..." she disappeared _

"_hai, my master..." Xellos turned to Lucile and Mortieri, "It seems I will have to forgo that rematch again, such a shame..." _

_Mortieri smiled as well, "I'd just beat you to the ground anyway" _

"_hai hai..." he turned his staff clanking against the ground as he disappeared into the dark after his master..._

"And so it was decided that we would approach the dragons with our idea..." 

"And they agreed?" Filia couldn't help but comment shocked

Xellos's eyes narrowed, "hai, and the place chosen to seal the pieces was Zephalia, the eternally sleepy little kingdom..." 

"But why? And how does that relate to Val" Filia was on the edge of her seat her apprehension building...

Xellos stood from his seat on the grass, stretching, "I was told that it was the perfect bluff, no one would ever suspect the true resting place of the most powerful beings in the world would reside in the world's most boring kingdom..." _Even then there was nothing to do..._

Filia stood as well, "I see... but what about Val?" 

Xellos put his hand behind his head, "well, that all involves the seal that was placed over the pieces, it was very specific..." 

"specific?" 

Xellos laughed slightly, "It's sort of complicated, but beyond a ritual it requires one of two things..." 

"what two things..." Filia stepped closer to him, 

"well, either a wedding takes place between one member of each side within the confines of the sanctum, or..." 

"or?" Filia leaned in even closer now...

"proof of that union" 

Filia flushed immediately, "PROOF! You can't mean!?" 

"sonotori..." a voice rang from the receding sunlight of the afternoon, 

"whose there?" Xellos called into the daylight, a cold wind blew, bits of ice and snow flew about caught up in it. Xellos looked out into the grassy hills that surrounded them to see the new figure that now stood before them, he couldn't help but smirk,

"Lord Dynast... sashiburi"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Chapter Eight: Surprise! Mysterious Ancient Dragon? End

A lot went into this particular chapter, although the original conception again changed drastically at some points I feel it ended up for the better. 

And to all those who are wondering why Deep Sea Dolphin is as she is, I was hoping to hash that out a long time ago, but things just seemed to carry away from that part and now I'm not sure how I'll be able to convincingly fit the parts in on that I wanted to **sigh** I can only hope...

Next up! Chapter Nine: Blood 


	10. Chapter Nine: Blood

The Status Quo

Chapter Nine: Blood

The world around a small oak was shrouded in night. Two figures lay against the trunk, a small boy and a middle aged woman. A full moon shone proudly in the sky, its light basking all things in a surreal glow. The two were wrapped in a small tattered red blanket that the woman wrapped securely around the boy. He turned to look at her through pale yellow eyes, his purple hair shimmering in the moonlight. She gazed back at him, her blue eyes reflecting the pure light of the moon. 

A kind of haze filled this world, the woman spoke but her words seemed muddled. Her face looked as though she were trying desperately to hold back tears. The boy gazed up at her still, responding with a single word... _hai_

The woman let out a shuddering cry enveloping the child in a hug, tears fell freely from her eyes. The child embraced her back trying to be as comforting as he could, tadashi...

In the darkness of an instant the scene changed, a scream shattered the night, _IKITE!_

"Ahhh!" Xellos awoke with a start

He sat up on a bed breathing heavily. He stared around the room panicked for a few moments before settling down enough to think properly again. He still breathed heavily for a moment, "heh...hehhh...why am I dreaming this again?" his eyes were tightly shut as he tried to drive back the memory that still blazed in his mind. He shook his head swiftly, "where am I...?" he fell back down on the pillow, he held a hand to his head that still throbbed slightly. 

It was then that he noticed the many blood stains that adorned his normally white gloves. A combination smile/growl surfaced on his face, "oh right...**that"** _how could that have happened..._

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Xellos stared out into the clear afternoon, a young man stood before them. One of many breezes blew through the hills of this endless field. The cool tendrils of moving air ruffled his short ice blue hair, billowing his equally blue cloak. Lord Dynast Grauchera, Lord of the North, Lord of Ice and Snow stood before them on an adjacent hill. 

Xellos's eyes narrowed, "how can you believe what you're saying?" 

"I can believe it because it is true... you and Zellas are responsible for the kidnapping of the ancient dragon..." 

"you keep saying that, but you haven't yet offered us any proof..." 

Dynast walked closer toward them, "It is obvious, you have already gained unfettered access to Lady Deep Sea Dolphin, and now you will likely receive such a privilege in the realm of the dragons under the guise of this search... it is a plan only Zellas could concoct..." 

Xellos almost facefauted, "you have really been cooped up in the snow too long Lord Dynast..." he took a step back grabbing Filia's hand. Feeling his hand on hers she turned looking at him questioningly. 

"I would love to play with you more Lord Dynast, but time is of the essence..." 

Xellos stood jovially next to Filia as Dynast stood a few yards away... "sayonara" he waved lightly with his free hand...

Birds sang in some far off tree, the sun remained shining in the cloudless sky, and Xellos and Filia remained standing exactly where they were. 

"are?" Xellos's expression went blank as he tried again concentrating harder, but nothing happened...

"What's wrong?"

"I can't..." 

"you didn't think I would come to gather information if you could just run away" 

Xellos looked down at Dynast who stood below them a confident smile on his face, "I have been preparing for this moment..." All around them large crystals of ice appeared, some held glowing runes within them that radiated fantastic power, "with these in place you will be unable to escape, now..." 

Dynast appeared next to them, "tell me the whereabouts of the ancient dragon..." 

Xellos glared at the mazoku lord standing before him. He glanced over at Filia whose hand he still held. 

Filia felt a light squeeze on her hand, she turned from Dynast to look at Xellos. She saw him smile jovially for a moment before she felt herself being thrust to the side. She screamed landing a short distance away. "Xellos!" she turned to see a battle beginning before her...

A flash of light erupted from Xellos as he shot forth a wave of red energy at Dynast who merely held out his hand. A light blue aura surrounded him which completely blocked the blast. In an instant Dynast was bearing down on Xellos his sword clashing against his staff. The two forced against each other gritting against the ground, "I want to know Xellos... don't force me to do the unreasonable, even I can't communicate with the dead..." 

"yare..yare.." Xellos voice strained under the force of the sword that pressed against his staff, "It doesn't have to go that far... I only need a warm breeze" his jovial nature continued to persist as he pushed with all his strength forcing Dynast to jump back from the swing. 

Dynast stared calmly at his adversary, "In which case I will be forced to use more forceful measures..." 

Filia stood watching the fight her heart pounding, _I swear if he dies this time I'm going to kill him!_

She could feel the energy in the air, Xellos emitted a malicious warm glow, while Dynast hid the majority of his chilling aura. Filia stared at him as she tried to order her thoughts as to what was really going on... _There's no way Xellos is behind this... _of this she was sure..._but then again..._

Filia was startled when she noticed Dynast's gaze on her. Xellos seemed to follow his line of sight.

His eyes widened, "Dame!" but it was too late...

Dynast appeared in front of Filia she couldn't move, her body temporarily frozen. He grabbed her by the neck lifting her from the ground, all that could be heard was her gasping for air. 

Xellos appeared above him raising his staff high he brought it down as hard as he could...

The staff cut into Dynast's hand as he held it at bay, a bright flash of blue aura and Xellos was repulsed back. He fell to the ground a few yards away. 

Filia struggled to remove his hand from her neck. Dynast continued to hold her as his concentration returned to her, his cold gray eyes staring into her own. 

_I..I...can't..breathe...going...to pass out. _The darkness was gathering on the edges of her vision, she was at the very point before collapsing. She barely felt the breeze as the hand loosened on her neck and she was cast to the side like a doll. The contact with the ground snapped her back into reality as she greedily gulped down air. 

Xellos stood as he witnessed Filia being thrown to the ground. His head bowed slightly his hair began to wave upward as if caught up in a breeze. 

Dynast turned to see a bright aura surround him, his head shot up...

"EienVualFier!" 

The bright aura around him burst into flame, it shot forward toward Dynast clearing the distance between them in an instant. Xellos smirked as he watched Dynast engulfed in flames. He appeared next to Filia...

She lay still breathing heavily, Xellos helped her to her feet. "That won't hold him for long, we should escape while we can" his jovial voice returned as he slung an arm over his shoulder. They had barely walked a few paces before they witnessed a sword piercing the flames. In an instant a swirl of blue aura flash froze the flames, steam shrouded the field. 

The two struggled onward through the cloud as it rose around them. Xellos stopped suddenly kneeling down to the ground, his staff clattered to the ground. Filia turned to him as he clutched his sides, "Xellos! What's wrong?" 

He turned to her frantically, "Get away!" 

He pushed her away as the last of the steam thinned from the field. She collapsed to the ground a short distance away. She turned in time to see his entire body become completely locked in ice up to his head. 

"Xellos!" she clasped her hands to her chest, "Val..Xen..Zi...Rel..Shi...Va...ahhhhahaha!" electricity shot through her body as the cold chill of ice forming from the tips of her toes upward consumed her senses. She screamed out in pain as she was frozen in place up to her head . A few yards away a blue magic symbol dissipated around Dynast. He raised a hand before him as the ice blocks of Xellos and Filia rose from the ground, floating a few feet above the ground. They faced his cold gray expression that was now tinged with the slightest hint of a smile...

Xellos glared at Dynast his features exuding all the dark emotion he could muster. Dynast stared back, "It must be so aggravating for you Xellos, to be able to do so much alone and yet be held back by the presence of this golden dragon..."

Xellos smirked, "that doesn't mean I can't break out of this ice easily..." the same red aura flared around him, he grit his teeth struggling against the ice...

"nani?" the ice glowed with his aura, flaring in the same red as his and only seeming to get stronger.

"I thought you would particularly enjoy my imprisonment, it is able to absorb your aura as if it were an extension of your body, which means no matter the type of spell you choose it will merely be absorbed..." he turned to Filia, "The ice that covers you is also quite special, it reacts whenever the Words of the Gods are spoken, as you may have already noticed..." 

He walked to a spot a dozen yards away in between Xellos and Filia as they both attempted to break free of their icy bonds. "Now..." 

He raised his hand a moment snapping his fingers together. A large spike of ice formed above him, it glowed with the same deadly blue aura. "The choice is very simple, one of you can tell me what I wish to know, or one of you can die..." 

"We already told you we don't know where Val is! We are trying to find him!" Filia blurted out as she managed to force a small shaving of ice from her covering. 

"I have told you that I do not believe you capable of his kidnapping, however you will serve my purposes well..." the large spike pointed directly at Filia as she stared down what could very well be her death at any moment. 

"How about it Xellos? I don't know about the wolves of your home, but the ones under my control would rather die than see their mates harmed.. what will it be?" 

Xellos glared at him, "I would rather..." 

Filia glanced one eye over to him, _What?! What are you going to do!? Please I don't want to die! I don't want to never see Val again! _

Her eyes were tightly shut as tears welled in them...

"I would rather find Val, even if I died..."

Filia's eyes shot open as she stared at him staring at her, for that moment time seemed to stop...

Lord Dynast stood before Filia, "nareba... sayonara" his hand shot forward... the spike flew through the air straight toward Filia...

She watched death flying toward her, it spun rapidly and in the instant of that one moment her entire life seemed to flow before her. Points in time from long ago to the very recent... she saw herself enjoying her time with her son. The times when Xellos was there, the times he wasn't and she wished he was, the times when she wished he wasn't... _Xellos..._

A bright flash of light graced her vision as she turned to see Xellos glowing in a bright red aura. As the last feet of distance was being crossed, at the last moment of the near infinite instance in time between one's beginning and one's end, the ice surrounding Xellos shattered as he burst from it. He appeared in front of Filia, her entire vision encompassed by his form. 

A moment before impact a flash of white light contacted the ice, it shattered into many pieces. The largest of them slammed through Xellos's right arm, it deflected from there breaking a large chunk from Filia's ice enclosure. 

The moment was now over... Xellos fell to the ground before Filia. She managed to break one arm free, staring down at his limp form. 

"Xellos!" she stared back at Dynast, "Kisama!" she grit her teeth in anger, however she was puzzled by his expression. It showed complete surprise and shock as he stared at the ground beneath her. She saw Xellos lying in a pool of... blood, his arm had been severed almost completely. He struggled to get up, sitting he stared at his blood soaked glove in shock... 

"Xellos!" Filia screamed, breaking further from the ice, "Vir...Za...Il...aahahahahaggg" the electricity ran through her, "Van....Tir...ZZZZil...Allllllt" the electricity struck her stronger, it ran through her, it was so painful..."Quere!" 

A bright flash of light emanated from her, it completely covered both of them, and in an instant they were gone...

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Xellos stirred from his thoughts as he felt something brush against his leg. He took a close look through the dim light of the room to see that Filia was laying against the bed. She had moved her arm in her sleep and it now lay against his leg. Xellos appeared quietly behind her, "I'm surprised I didn't wake you up, sleepy little dragon..." he whispered with his usual jovial voice. A peek from this angle through the curtained windows revealed that it was still the late afternoon. Xellos stared down at Filia as he draped his repaired cloak over her... he took a step back watching her sleep. His hand clenched at his side as he stared down at her, he unconsciously growled as he thought of the incident with Dynast, _How dare he try too hurt Filia! I'll kill him!_

His eyes shot open wide, he turned and ran toward the dresser. Gazing into the mirror he sighed at the sight of his own reflection that still portrayed a demon, his eyes the same pale yellow, _yokata, I'm still me..._

He held out his hand and in an instant his staff appeared before him. He grasped it as he walked through the door, leaving the sparse gray room behind and a sleeping Filia to sleep. Walking down a hallway he quickly reached a set of stairs leading to the ground level of the inn. He had walked down them only halfway before he noticed a figure in the kitchen. He sighed as he remembered their arrival in this place, and the owner of the bright orange hair that shined in the waning light of the sun...

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

A deserted street of some town sat in the stillness of the early afternoon light. The wind picked up for a moment whipping the tall grasses and bushes of the area into a frenzy. The wind subsided as a flash of bright light filled the area, two figures appearing at the zenith of its intensity. The light fades to nothing as two bodies fall to the ground...

Filia was first to stand shakily finding her balance once more. Xellos lay as his wound continued to freely pour blood, covering much of his normally pristine clothing. She helped him to his feet as they began to walk forward into this small town. 

"arigato...Fi-chan...this shouldn't...hurt so much..." _this is too embarrassing..._

Filia didn't say anything as they walked, she merely gazed at him nervously... _Mazoku don't bleed... How is this possible!?_

A few yards down the road a villager appeared atop a hill walking the opposite direction down the hill.

"Excuse me! We need help!" Filia screamed as Xellos suddenly buckled coughing. A small trickle of blood forming from the side of his mouth. It became apparent that a piece of the shard had slammed into his chest as well... 

The man ran over toward them as quickly as he could, "what is the problem?" he took one quick look at Xellos before it became clear. His voice became panicky, "I'm sorry, but I don't know any healing magic, or any other sort of medical treatment for that matter..." 

"Is there a doctor nearby?"

The man shook his head, "No, I'm terribly sorry, but we are a small town and our doctor is busy treating patients elsewhere..." 

Filia looked around frantically, "then what should we do!" 

The man looked at the ground for a moment, "there is one other option, however..." 

"What is it? We'll do anything!"

The man looked as if what it was was the last thing he wanted to say, "I wouldn't recommend it, but seeing the desperation your in you could try the Demon Lady staying at the inn a short way down the road..." 

"alright then! Thank you!" 

The two ran as fast as they could down the road. The building of the inn already becoming visible to them. It was a small two story house of sorts, with a patio, and an expansive garden in the front. The two limped through the dusty entrance to the garden. They walked forward until a person working in the garden became visible. They were only a few yards away from her now. 

"excuse me!" Filia called out to the girl who turned her head to see them.

"we're looking for the...the...De..." specifically for the moment where too people meet after a long time apart time stopped. The kneeled figure before her was the grubby pant and tunic wearing, hair double braided, gloved weed pulling identical version of Lina Inverse. 

"Filia?" she dropped the weeds she was holding standing for a better look, "Filia! It's been awhile!" she moved closer before fully recognizing the person whose arm was slung around Filia. Her demeanor changed quickly, "And Xellos... what are you two doing together?" she folded her in front of her practically glaring at the mazoku. 

"ahaha, forgive me for not waving, but I seem to be bleeding quite a bit for some reason..." 

Lina looked unphased, "so? It's not like it's going to kill you, but then again..." 

Filia stepped forward, "Lina, can you heal Xellos?" 

Lina couldn't help but stare into those pleadingly sincere eyes, she sighed, "sure, but I'm not doing it for him... come on" 

They walked through the open door of the inn, down a hallway and up the stairs. An elderly woman called after them, "Lina-san try not to get blood all over the carpet!" 

"hai obasan, I'll try!" 

They reached room number 3 down the short hallway from the stairs. Lina pulled out a key from a pocket of her shabby pants sliding it into the lock. The door swung open revealing a very depressing room. It's walls and ceiling were painted entirely gray, while the floor was carpeted in a kind of dark brown. The curtain was pulled down all the way allowing for very little light to enter. 

"this was my room for a little while..." Lina stepped aside allowing them to enter. Filia lay Xellos on the bed as Lina closed the door behind them. 

She rubbed her hands together kneeling down next to the bed, "now then, lets get started..." she smiled evilly at Xellos who lay there in an obvious amount of pain...

She lay her hands next to the large sever in his right arm, "Recovery!" a flash of white light emitted from her hands covering that entire portion of his body. The reaction was immediate, Xellos's back arched as he screamed in violent pain. 

Lina stared sadistically at Xellos as he writhed in agony a few moments before Filia tackled her to the ground. 

"Lina what are you doing! You said you were going to help him not kill him!" Lina stared back at her in indecision, a kind of rage and pain evident in her eyes... 

Filia stared into them for only a moment before recoiling away as she sat on the floor. Lina sat up patting some dust away from her back, "I know, I know, it's just a joke! Because I haven't seen old Xel in such a long time, ne Xellos?" 

He looked up at them a slight smile still lingering on his face, "hai hai Lina-san whatever you say..." 

She and Filia kneeled once more next too the mazoku, "now then..." a moment of apprehension passed, "how do you heal a mazoku?" 

Filia facefaulted, "I thought you said you could heal him!" 

Lina held a hand to her chin, "I'm sure I can, I just don't know how..." 

"Well how does that help us!" 

"Pain, Sadness, Anger, Hatred" Xellos interjected from the bed, the bleeding had ceased moments ago,

"ehhh?" _Sadness, Anger, Hatred? What does that..._

"Ahha!" Filia concluded clapping her hand with her fist, she faced Lina. 

"Forgive me for this Lina, but it's the only way..." 

"What? What are younahhahaha" Filia grasped Lina's cheeks and summarily began pulling them apart, "it's the only way!" 

"na nan ana nana anannannan! Nonly wwway my ass!" Lina grabbed her back in the same fashion forcing them to their feet, 

"Stwwwop bein' so diificult Lina!" 

"Dwiificult! Whhhossee graabbin mwi mooouth lika fouur year old! You tea lovin fwreeak!" 

"nwanntato! Twat'ss low! You town destroying Bakemono!" 

"Nah! Thwat wwas sulf dufense!" 

They continued to parry back and forth across the room like children. They passed the bed, Xellos's injuries seemed to almost instantly heal. They go around the room once passing by the bed again, Xellos sits up. They pass once more, "ahh, I think I'm better now... actually" 

"hwuh?" by this time Lina and Filia had almost completely forgotten the purpose for their actions. Filia was busily forcing a more diminutive Lina to the ground by the cheek. They both let go when Xellos reminded them, they merely stood around sheepishly. "hahha I have to hand it too you, that was perhaps the fastest recovery from a Dynast attack I've ever had..." 

More standing around embarrassedly, "wait... did you say Dynast? As in Lord Dynast?!"

"un" Xellos and Filia nodded at the same time, "we had kind of an encounter, but I feel much better now, all that is left is to...." 

Xellos had just started getting out of the bed, one foot rested on the ground. He stopped talking suddenly, his eyes seemed to suddenly loose focus...

"Xellos? Something wrong?" 

"ah..ahah" his limbs shook for a moment before he fell limply on the bed, his eyes completely shut...

"Xellos!" Filia ran to him on the bed. She looked around frantically, "what's wrong with him now!" 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Xellos couldn't help but sigh a further time as he made his descent down the final portion of the stairs. He quietly entered the kitchen, watching the still petite sorcerous wash the dishes. It seemed so incredibly out of place, Lina Inverse, Bandit Killer, Dragon Spooker, Sorcerous Extraordinaire, doing housework... it was unfathomable. At any rate the tapping of his staff against the hardwood flooring hadn't gone unnoticed by said sorcerous, who continued to wash the dishes nonchalantly. 

"so... where's Gourry-san?" 

"Out doing what he does best, lumber jacking." _It's the only thing a good swordsman can do these days..._

"oh..." An uncomfortable moment or two passed, the sun moved steadily across the ever darkening sky...

"What about Zelgadis-san?

"Enjoying his newfound humanity with the princess... and their newfound love for each other probably right about now..." _But perhaps many many more times today..._

"oh..." Another moment passes, Lina finishes another dish placing it firmly on a rack to dry. 

"And how is everything going?"

"EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE!" Lina attempts an all to unconvincing cheery voice, 

"oh alright then..." Xellos walks a few paces away from the kitchen... **Crash!**

He turns to see a soapy dish in many pieces on the floor, Lina is standing next to it her fists clenched. She takes a step forward...

"Nothing is fine! Nothing at all is fine! And it's all thanks to you Xellos! If an order that you can never break is what it was then I might have accepted it, but!" her hands clench tighter..."but..." 

A tear fell down her cheek, which she viciously wiped away, "Filia's been telling me all about what you did for her... you defied an order from Lord Beastmaster to save her... why not for me?" 

Lina stared pleadingly at Xellos who stared back at her, a hand behind his head, "honestly, I didn't know it would end up like it did, I thought it would just be another crazy misadventure that never went anywere... hahahhaha..." 

"hahahahah MY ASS! You knew exactly what we were getting into!" Lina stomped angrily back to her broken dish... "actually..." 

She turned at his voice, "actually... I felt as if I had to lead you in that direction, as if fate were guiding me in that direction..." 

_His voice... I've never heard his voice sound so serious... OR HIS EXCUSE SO STUPID!_

"aho! You think I would actually believe that!" she bapped him squarely on the head. 

"no, but it was worth making you feel slightly better, at least your not sad anymore..." 

"huh?" _He's right... How can I be sad because of this idiot... _

Lina suddenly smiled, "It seems you and Filia have come some way to get here... in more ways than one..." 

"heh?"

"oh we talked for quite some time, and she had nothing but a glowing report of you..." 

"really? That is something of a change..." 

"although I have a feeling she may have still been a little upset..." 

"why? You didn't tell her about..."

"no... although I was greatly tempted too, I morelike showed her the result before our chat... I think it unhinged her a little..." 

Xellos stared blankly for a moment, "umm, Lina-san about back there... were you..."

She lifted her hand up, the pieces of plate rose into the air. In an instant the plate was perfectly restored and back into the soapy water...

"serious? Maybe..." a devilish glint appeared in her firey red eyes, 

"ah..." 

She suddenly waved her hands dismissively, "don't worry, I was just blowing off some steam back there, I feel much better now, however..." 

Her features looked utterly serious, "I don't think I'll ever forgive you for what happened..."  
Chibi Lina, "I MEAN WERE STAYING AT THIS INN BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU DID! DOING HOUSEWORK BECAUSE ALL THE BANDITS MOVED AWAY AS WE SLOWLY AWAIT SOMETHING THAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN BUT NOT EVEN I KNOW WHAT IS!" she breathed heavily as she stared into her pile of dishes, "I'm sorry Lina, but all mazoku know not to answer that question... it's something that we are forbidden to discuss..." 

Lina stared at Xellos his features were almost solemn as he sat on an empty table in the back of the kitchen, "so you know something..." 

He shook his head, "nothing that would help you, or make you feel any easier about what's coming..." 

"I don't wanna accept that..." 

"but unfortunately you have to... Lina-san" the jovial voice returned as he got up from his seat on the table, "I'm going to go see how Fi-chan's doing, so..." 

"I'll be here then, wallowing in my own misery..." 

"alright then..." he disappeared from the bottom of the stairs, Lina couldn't help but smile..."aho" 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Filia's eyes slowly opened in unison to her dimly lit surroundings... she pulled herself from the bed gazing around sleepily. The cloak still wrapped around her slid off as she moved about, "are? I must have fallen asleep..." she rubbed her eyes trying to wake up. Yawning a few times she gazed at the empty bed before her, it looked so inviting, she sat on it a moment staring blankly at the door that stood closed before her... 

She felt the warmth of the cloak around her, she pulled it snugly around her feeling its silky softness against her. She lay back on the bed her mind caught in thoughts of the day behind her...

"This bed..." she felt the warmth that still radiated from it, "Xellos... where did you go?" _Perhaps to see Lina...?_

She shivered slightly the memory of Lina's revelation to her just hours before still fresh...

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

"Xellos!" Filia ran to him on the bed. She looked around frantically, "what's wrong with him now!" 

"Don't worry about it Filia, it's not like a mazoku like Xellos is worth so much worry..." Lina stared coldly at the form before them, "but Lina-san... "she stood from where she crouched next to the bed her hand shaking...

Lina turned away toward the door, "I have to finish some work outside, so I'll see you later..." 

"Why are you like this all of a sudden!"

Lina turned from the door, she could only stare at the dragon before her. "I'm worried about Xellos alright! So many things... so many things have happened I don't fully understand!" 

Tears began to well in her eyes, "Val was kidnapped from me and throughout all this time Xellos has been there for me... I used to think I knew what Mazoku were like... but now I don't know anymore, nothing seems to make sense!" 

"Mazoku aren't supposed to bleed, Mazoku aren't supposed to sleep, Mazoku aren't supposed to love! But..." she fell to her knees her hands covering her tears stained face. Lina took a step forward holding out a comforting hand... "what happened to you Lina!" 

The red headed sorcerous recoiled slightly as Filia rounded on her... "You never used to treat anyone this way! You were a selfish, obnoxious, demure, small breasted, little sorcerous who blew up everything, but you were never this uncaringly mean, what happened Lina?!" 

Throughout her tirade Lina's head remained bowed, an almost feral smile just peeking from the shadow of her hair. "alot has happened here too..." 

Lina walked a few slow paces forward, "alot has happened lately that you might not understand, that I may never understand, however..." 

A reddish aura surrounded the sorcerous as she approached, Filia could sense an unmistakable feeling in the back of her neck...

"Lina? Nani..." _It can't be...  
_Her petite form was now only a few inches away her aura becoming more unmistakable as it came closer. Her head shot up looking deeply into Filia's dark blue eyes. She tried desperately to hold back a scream as she fell back to the ground. Lina gazed down at her through a perfect set of pale red eyes, a single jagged magenta line resembling a claw mark adorned each cheek. Her hair seemed to writhe with energy, it flowed upward unbraiding itself until it was again a cascade of reddish orange that fell around her shoulders.

"oh Filia, it is certain that so much has changed..." 

Filia stared back at her in a kind of horror, but in an instant the marks disappeared and she was once again staring at a person she considered a friend. 

Lina smiled back at her, "but don't worry, it hasn't affected my personality in any way..." she appeared at the door, "we'll talk about it later, and don't worry about Xellos, I'm sure he has much to dream about..." Filia could do nothing but sit in shock....

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

She had talked with Lina in length and that had lessened her anxiety about it, but it was still shocking, to think that Lina was... this whole time a...

"ohayo Fi-chan..." a voice rang from the doorway, Filia looked up to see the unmistakable features of Xellos, "ohayo to you too..." she couldn't help but smile getting up from where she sat on the bed. She handed the cloak back to Xellos who took it with a nod, 

"did you have a good nap?" 

"un" she nodded for a moment before walking over to the window pulling the shutter. The light of the near evening sun shone through the dusty window, "konbonwa more like it though..." 

"hai..." Xellos walked over next to her near the window,

"Xellos..." 

"hai?"

"I wanted to thank you for earlier... for saving me from Dynast..." she spoke through the window, 

"Don't mention it, I suppose I should thank you as well for teleporting us out of there..." _honestly, I don't know why we didn't think of that earlier..._

Filia nodded before turning back to the window, "do you think Dynast will try again?" _with that crazy theory of his, honestly..._

"I don't think we will see Dynast again for some time now..."

"what makes you so sure?" Filia turned from the window as Xellos sat down on the bed, "because Dynast is a person that likes to be sure about every conceivable detail before he acts, I'm actually surprised he attacked us based on the little information he had, after the display that we gave him today he will probably be pondering it for another thousand years..." 

"you really think so?" Filia couldn't help but smile, but then an unconscious frown appeared within her.... "Xellos... " 

"eh? What?" 

"oh nothing nevermind..." 

They stood for a moment in silence, Xellos got up from the bed his face appearing in the mirror. "mazoku aren't supposed to bleed are they?" 

"no they aren't..."

"mazoku don't need to sleep do they?" 

"no they don't..." 

"mazoku aren't supposed to..." 

Filia stopped herself just in time, the next question would have been very uncomfortable... "but your special aren't you Xellos?" 

"I suppose I am..." the mazoku looked away from the mirror and directly at Filia, "by the way I heard you have an interesting chat with Lina-san, anything I should know about?" 

"eh? No! Nothing special...hahahahahahaheh" 

Another silence filled the room, "shall we go then?" 

Filia turned to look at Xellos from the bed, "un" she answered her mind deeply in thought, there were some parts of their encounter with Dynast that she didn't yet understand, however there was plenty of time in the world to answer those questions. They couldn't waste anymore time sitting around.... 

They had reached the landing of the stairs before Lina caught their movement, "you two leaving already?" 

"hai, we have a mission to continue..." 

"oh... alright then, I'll walk you to the door, because Xellos is so moronic he'd probably have it hit him on the way out..." she walked past them in perfect fauxworry 

"I should have known you'd see through my scheme Lina-san" 

She had walked a few paces ahead of them reaching for the screen door. It swung open of its own accord, or rather was pushed open by a very familiar blond haired man. 

"ah, Gourry, Okaeri!" Lina in cute mode.

Indeed the same swordsman that both Filia and Xellos had known for quite some time stood in the doorway. He still wore a sword around his waist, but it must surely be nothing in comparison to the sword of light. His long blond hair still lay around his not too bright head, and he still wore a light blue tunic and pants, it would seem not much has changed...

"tadaima Lina, Richard-sempai gave me a bonus today!" Gourry held out the large bag of coins proudly, 

"hontoni! That means...that means... we can finally...finally pay off our debts! Woohoo! LUCKY!" 

Lina and Gourry began hopping around screaming 'lucky' and 'happy endings' and soforth at the top of their lungs, it was quite embarrassing. 

Then at that moment the most surprising scene that had ever been witnessed in the annals of Slayers History, or perhaps the most expected, whichever... happened. 

Gourry wrapped his arms around Lina and, both blushing, kissed in front of 'everyone' standing there at that moment in time...

"ahem" Filia felt the need to interject, the two summarily pulled apart blushing intensely, "It seems things have changed here too..." Xellos enjoyed making jovial remarks that would make others feel just a little more uncomfortable, 

A glowing red Lina pointed to her finger, "hey this ring entitles me to certain inalienable rights ok!?" 

"what!? Engagement ring!" Upon closer inspection her ring finger was adorned with a simple gold band... "so that means..." 

"sonotori..." at that moment Lina's voice filled with the same superior tone that Dynast usually wore, it was scary...

Filia sighed with envy, "that's so wonderful, I wish I was getting married... but more importantly we have to go!" 

"you can still go? Even after all this?" Xellos was more than semi-interested in examining this newly budding relationship, "just let me ask one question before we go..." 

"alright fine..." Filia tapped her foot impatiently on the floor, 

"honestly Gourry, did you knock her up?" 

"eh? Knock her up... well we did..." beat red turns redder, Lina knocks Gourry, and Filia drags a maced Xellos out the door, "nice to see you again Lina, Gourry, we should do it more often..." 

"gooodddbyeyee Lina-san soshte Gourry-san" 

"bye bye! Achooo!" Lina waved back before attempting to stifle a sneeze, 

"cold?" Gourry looked at her concerned, Lina looked back, "I'm sure it's nothing, I'm fine..." 

Two familiar figures stood in the shadows, invisible to all that would try to sense them... "so for you? How does it start..." Xefia stood next to her companion, they were only a few yards away from their quarry... Maven gazed down the road at the orange haired woman and the blond swordsman, "for me? For her... it starts with a cold..." 

"Achooo!" Lina walks back into the house with Gourry, "are you sure your alright?" 

Lina looked back at him through a handkerchief, "I'm fine thanks for asking..." 

Xefia stared worriedly at her friend, "will you be able to take it? Just standing and watching it happen?" 

Maven shrugged, "no, that's why I don't intend to keep watching, besides nothing we can do for them now... here at least" she walks a few feet into a small grove of trees, "come on we're going home..." 

"hai..." the ancient dragon Xefia looked back one more time at the inn from where she knew from this moment on terrible things were going to spring, "sayonara Lina-san" she disappeared after Maven in the dark. 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

A torch flickered in the dimly lit cavern of the spacious throne room. Lord Beastmaster sat in her spacious throne, tapping her foot incessantly against the stone floor, "where the hell is Kusetsu?" 

The patter of clawed feet against the stone floor could be heard clearly as something ran swiftly through the corridors and tunnels of the mountain. Zellas stood as the sound came closer and eventually reached her chamber. Snowy came ambling through her chamber skidding to a halt before her... 

"ah Snowy, I have been expecting you..." 

Snowy bowed low her entire body to the floor, tail between her legs, "hai, my master" 

"I expect an explanation as to why you interfered in my operation more importantly, how you were able to do this, but most importantly..." 

Zellas's feral smile widened, "what relation you are to Xellos..." 

"ehhhh!" the young wolf lifted her whole body from the ground in shock... "whaaa what do you mean Beastmaster-sama..."

Silence hung about the room as Zellas's eyes bore into an increasingly uncomfortable wolf pup. 

"umm, I was searching around for Xellos... because I wanted to be sure he had truly betrayed us..." 

She looked up at her master who merely nodded still smirking, her eyes never leaving the slightly trembling pup, "and I felt Kusetsu in the area so I thought he might know something... from his vantage point I was able to see where they were..." 

"They?" Zellas began tapping her foot against the floor her voice full of curiosity...

"Xellos and...the golden dragon" Snowy couldn't hold back the snarl in her voice

"oh? Both of them... well that's fairly suggestive" 

"no it's not!"

Zellas's smile widened, "you sound angry... what about them together upsets you so?" 

Snowy found herself at a loss, _Why did I get so angry? Is it because you like Xellos? No! I don't like Xellos I can't! I just... I just want to be with him, and..._

Zellas waited patiently, her back leaning against her throne, "I don't know why I was so angry... I just saw them together like they were before, and... I wanted her dead so badly so..."

"so?" 

"so... that he can come home and... we can be together again and... things can be like they were..." she trembled like a small child, she felt so uncomfortable talking about this, her face was flushed and the world seemed to feel wrong...

Zellas stared down at the pup that half lay half stood before her, her eyes gazed with all the predatory nature of a hawk in flight beside the torches of her chamber. 

"I think it is time this facade of yours is put to rest, Snowy-chan" With a wave of her hand the wolf before her transformed into a human girl dressed in a white shirt and pants. The long white hair that covered her body now framed her fear laden face, her pale red eyes stared into the powerful Lord of all Beasts that stood before her... 

"I have one further question for you Snowy-chan, how does it feel when you are around Xellos?" 

She stood shakily on her now two feet, "I...I...I feel..." _warmth, happiness, contentment, pain, uncertainty, doubt, fear..._

She clutched the pendant around her neck, she felt warmth and reassurance flow through her, "I feel warm...so very warm" 

"is that so?" 

It was then that she began to sweat, "warm, I feel so warm, too warm!" she fell to the ground clutching her chest. Zellas stared as she breathed heavily on the ground a bright red aura seemed to surround her. Its burning red light covering her body lifting her into the air. With a flick of her clawed hand the little girl's white clothes ripped to shreds falling in a heap to the floor. The blazing red light emanated from the very jewel that hung from her neck. With another snap of her fingers the strand around her neck broke, the bottom part of the thread and the glowing jewel fell with a clank to the floor. 

Snowy fell in a heap to the floor on top of her now shredded clothing. Zellas picked up the crystal teardrop that still blazed its red aura. 

A shimmering sound outside the throne room hailed the return of Kusetsu who ran through the chamber his head bowed, "I'm sorry master I was unable to find Snowy, I am prepared to accept any punishment you would..." 

He lifted his head in time to witness the scene before him, Snowy lay naked on a pile of shredded clothing and his master sat hunched over a small glowing jewel. 

"oh..." 

He stood staring uncomfortably at the scene finding his eyes wandering to Snowy's exposed...

He was thrust from his thoughts as he felt something smash against his head. The small jewel fell into his hand, he stared at Beastmaster as she stood over the young girl's body covering her in her spare cloak. "it would seem that your corpse is on the move Kusetsu, please be more accurate in your reporting in the future..."

Kusetsu stared down at the small glowing jewel, it felt hot in his hands nearly burning him. He looked from it to his master, "hai, my master..." He felt the energy radiating from the jewel and knew it instinctively to be Xellos's. Once he felt that the mazoku's location became clear... he disappeared into the dark...

Zellas stared down at the body of Snowy, she had slipped into unconsciousness. She sighed placing her hand over her forehead feeling the same heat radiating through it, "I wonder what you were thinking, Xellos... in creating that jewel" in a flash of darkness the form of Snowy and the garment she was covered in disappeared from the room...

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Chapter Nine: Blood end

wow! This was about the longest chapter yet... I have to say that a lot happened in this particular installment, some of which I had to rewrite a few times... I would hope that some of it would meet your approval if not all...

In any case this portion kind leads into what is a temporary gray area for me, I should be able to piece all of it together however it may take slightly longer than some of the others I've done. I hope you enjoy it as readers and especially as reviewers whose comments and criticisms are my life blood (or so to speak) 

Next Up! Chapter Ten: Waste of Time _or _Meeting May Be The Sweetest Sorrow...


	11. Chapter Ten: Waste of Time

AN: sorry for the long wait...

I have recently been informed that Xellos eyes are purple, after some investigating, I have determined for myself that I was wrong and my reviewers were right. Instead of going back and rewriting the entire thing to change all the instances I used yellow to purple, I have decided to use continue using yellow... god knows I've changed the storyline enough to start fanatically sticking to the facts now...

I thank you for those comments though and hope that people will continue to provide helpful comments in the future...

The Status Quo

Chapter Ten: Waste of Time

The clouds gathered in an ominous dark mass around the mountainous peaks. The first foresaw peal of thunder struck down in unison with a great flash of lightning that pounded some rocky expanse just before the heaving ocean waves. The blast hailed the arrival of the torrential rain, it came in sheets, whipped sideways and in all directions by the gale force winds. It was into this maelstrom that a small puppy of pure white walked, near collapsing from the force of the wind. From the relative safety of the small entrance in which she had come the puppy now stood in the middle of a small beach. She looked out into the small expanse of sand and rock. Through the torrential horizontal rain that blew all around her she not have seen what danger awaited her. A wind suddenly picked up around where she stood as she gazed out into the blackness a flash of lightning revealed a great wave arching high into the sky. The puppy scrambled in a terrified dash to the safety of the cavern she had left, but she tripped and stumbled in the loose sand as the wave crashed to the ground. The swift torrent of water carried her from her spot on the sound and, in a terrified heap, brought her up the beach. She whined feebly as the water rushed back to the sea carrying her along with it. She screwed up her courage digging her claws deep into the loose sand, it slowed her rush back to the swift waters and certain death in the pounding sea. The tactic worked, her body coming to a slow stop just before the foaming waters of the ocean. She lay panting, her mind swirling in exhaustion, her muscles wanting nothing more than to lay there forever. A sound from behind her brought her mind out of its haze and into a realm of clarity. She willed her head to gaze behind her to see the terrible visage of yet another ugly black wall of water whipped to unimaginable dimensions by the storm. She scrambled to her feet in a primal burst of energy and with a painful convulsion of her tiny muscles she bounded forward. The slick matted down sand provided a firmer stage for such a burst of energy, but this thought was just a blur in the puppy who half ran half leaped in terror from the oncoming onslaught of water. The sound of the wind blowing fiercely in the wake of the great wave behind her spurred her to run faster than she probably would be able to even in her adult life. In such a manner she ran until she heard the crashing of the wave and turned her head to see the rushing waters. She gritted her minuscule teeth as she sped up her pace, the last bit of her energy expended the swirling waters of the wave just licked her heals as she collapsed to the ground after one final pounce from its reach. The puppy, now more like a panting ball of white fluff, lay flat against the sand. As she lay against the soft earth the dissipating sound of the receding water was replaced by the ferocious storm that still raged throughout the night sky.

With what strength she had left the puppy strained a few steps toward the protection of the cavern, but collapsed back to the ground every muscle contained within her minute form strained to the point of pain, her energy exhausted beyond all measure. She lay huddled against the storm, the wind whipped against her as the borne sharp drops of rain pelted her. She cried out feebly for anyone to save this small puppy from the horrors of this terrible night. This great expanse of blackness that would be remembered by all who dared venture out in it seemed to sense her pleas and only double its efforts. A flash of lightning struck miles away, but the boom of thunder seemed to shatter the night and make it seem so much closer. A wave crashed violently against the beach, followed by another and another in a trifecto of terrifying noise and wind. As thunder rolled and lightning flashed the puppy lay against the sand her heartwrenching pleas becoming fainter and fainter as all that was within her cried out for sleep, but the terrifying sounds of the night provided no circumstance for this. It was through the worst that this storm could offer that the sound that she had hoped for the most, the shimmering of pure darkness, would go unnoticed as she lay eyes closed to the world.

Although the storm continued to rage all around, in the mind of the small puppy it seemed to lessen. She dared not open her eyes at first, but the wind and rain seemed seemed to lessen and nearly stop. She cautiously opened one tired eye, her ruby red pupil staring out into the stormy world around her. Indeed the storm was raging, but before her was a short mazoku, his dull yellow eyes staring down through a mop of sopping purple hair. His hands held up his cloak which he had draped over her blocking the pelting rain and driving winds. Xellos knelt before her, his face adorned with a bright smile, "konbonwa Snowy-chan..."

"Xellos-tama!" Snowy squealed with joy as she bounded forward seemingly filled with renewed energy, all previous pains forgotten.

The force of her move knocked Xellos back with a surprised, "umphh" as he collapsed to the ground. "Xellos-tama..." the puppy nuzzled against his shirt front as he brought his arms around her, holding her as he brought himself to his feet. "yare yare Snowy, I begin to think you get lost just to have me chase you everywhere" he sighed, "_honestly I looked over every inch of the domain..._"

Snowy merely curled up sopping wet in his arms seeking his warmth as he walked back to the cavern entrance and safety from the storm. Xellos's footsteps clattered against the hard rock of the cavern floor, the sound reverberating off the high ceiling of the cavern. Most of these great caverns and caves stretched for miles throughout Flierbanyu Island, joining and crisscrossing in a vast network that few fully understood. Snowy leaped from Xellos's arms. The purple haired mazoku stood a respectful distance away as she began the complex process of cleaning her fur of all remnants of water. His eyes scanned the floor until his gaze landed upon a small piece of driftwood, perhaps from one of the many ships that once sailed the island's treacherous waters. A few casual footsteps and he had reached the spot hovering above the scrap of wood as it lay simply against the rock ground.

"I'm done Xellos-tama!" the elated wolf pup practically skipped toward the elder mazoku. Xellos turned toward her holding the piece of timber, "what are you gonna to do with that? Are you gonna make a fire?" the puppy stared in fascination as Xellos stood a few feet from the cave wall. He tossed the wood to the center of the passageway before turning to the pup, "watch and see..."

With that he raised his hand before him and with the slightest flash of red energy the wood erupted into flame. "Wow!" Snowy pranced about excitedly as the small bit of wood rose to a flaming mass five times its size. Xellos lay back against the hard rock of the cavern, Snowy bounded forward and in an instant was draped across Xellos's lap. The mazoku lay back against the wall of the cavern as his hand casually stroked Snowy's soft fur. She lay there basking in contentment from the warmth of the fire and the warmth of her beloved Xellos, whose lap she snuggled closer against reveling in the warmth she received from him. Sleep began to take its hold as the storm continued to rage outside, the rhythmic stroking of her fur began to lull her. She yawned deeply as the fire crackled merrily away never completely consuming the small piece of wood. Xellos stared down at her, "you should get some rest Snowy-chan, I don't have anything else to do today anyway"

Snowy stared up at Xellos although her features were sleep addled they showed her complete warmth and admiration, "sukidaiyo Xellos-tama" her eyes closed as she rested her head against his leg.

"I love you too Snowy-chan..." Xellos responded as he continued to lightly stroke her, the next words came so softly the young pup could hardly hear them, "I love you just the way you are..."

The next morning was a particularly bizarre and spectacular one on Wolfpack Island. Snowy awoke in the hazy light of morning, "Xellos-tama?" she stared all around her to find the mazoku nowhere to be seen. She scrambled to her feet before dashing to the opening in the rock. "Kie..." was all she could think as she gazed out into the pure blue sky. The sun was just rising above the horizon as a soft breeze played with her fur, "such a nice breeze!" she squealed as she pranced about. It was the lolling sound of another breaking wave, a mere fraction of the behemoth walls of water the night before, that alerted her attention to Xellos. She gazed as he stood before the waves, the soft breeze playing with his short purple hair. A wave surged against the beach, the foaming waters drenching up to his ankles as he stepped from it back up the beach.

"Xellos-tama!" Snowy called as she ran down the beach toward him, they met somewhere in the middle as Xellos bent down to pat her on the head. She closed her eyes for a moment as he pet her on the head, "ohayo Snowy-chan..." he said softly as he withdrew his hand, "ohayo Xellos-tama!" she beamed up at him as they stood against the sandy surface of the beach. Another wave lapped against the small stretch of pristine shoreline that seemed almost benign in the light of the sun that shone down upon them.

"Snowy-chan..." Xellos stated softly,

"hai?" Snowy gazed questioningly as the mazoku before her reached for some hidden pocket in his cloak. "I have a present for you..."

Snowy stared in awe as Xellos pulled from his cloak a necklace, it was a simple crystal in the shape of a teardrop suspended by a thin string from his hands. "This will help you if and when you get lost..." he placed the necklace around the pup's neck as he spoke. Once the necklace was around her neck Snowy examined the fine crystal teardrop that weighted her neck considerably, but still she cherished it...

"Arigato Xellos-tama!" she leaped forward once more knocking Xellos to the ground. She licked all over his face affectionately as he writhed about on the ground laughing hysterically from the sensation, "hahahahaha stop Snowy haha -chan hahyama hahte" he barely managed to get out the words as she stopped merely staring at him happily, the weight of the stone around her neck forgotten, as if it became natural to wear it. Xellos sat up as he beamed down at her with his dull yellow eyes, she stared back with her bright ruby eyes...

Those same ruby eyes, though seemingly dulled, snapped open to the sensation of near complete darkness. The owner of those gorgeous red eyes stared out into the gloom, up at a ceiling she could not fully recognize just yet. Her muscles strained as she sat up slowly, a cloak falling from her naked form. She turned her head from side to side, the long white hair framing her face swaying lightly from side to side along her back. "Where am I?" Snowy groggily formed the words as she gazed out into the darkness of the room. Slowly her vision began to come back and her mind cleared, it was so obvious even in the dark that she had to smack herself in the head for not realizing it.

**Smack!** "oww!" she rubbed her forehead softly with her other hand as the pain ebbed away, "This is Xellos's room" _I can't believe I just did that... oww_

Even if it was Xellos's room it was unusually dark, it was rare that Xellos ever turned the lamp off, "Light..."

Still a little groggy she groped her hand out in the darkness trying to think where the light was when it suddenly flashed to life. The whole room was suddenly illuminated in a great bright light from a lantern near the front of the room. "ahhh... Dimmer!" she wailed as her arm came over her eyes in a vein attempt to shield her from the blinding light. On request the light dimmed, she couldn't help but sigh as the light returned to a level she was used to, "ahhh, that's better..."

It was then that her eyes gazed from the open entrance to Xellos's chamber devoid of any kind of covering, probably for the lack of time he spent in it, down to her naked chest uncovered by the cloak as she sat... ... ... "Eeeek!" She screamed in terror as she quickly wrapped the oversized cloak firmly around herself once more. "_Where did my clothes go!?" _She glanced from one corner of the other in a frantic search for perverted watchers that might be there. It took a few minutes to quiet herself down enough to move tentatively from the bed.

She slid over to the very edge as she held the cloak with both hands around herself, "alright then... first the right foot..." she placed the foot firmly to the rock floor, "so far so good... now the left" the left foot slowly fell to the floor before landing next to its partner. She sat on the bed for a moment before cocking her head to one side, "Why am I so nervous all of a sudden?" Her arms instantly shrugged still holding the cloak about her as she slid from the bed, standing in the center of the room scanning the contents. The room had little to speak of... outside of the bed which occupied the majority of the space the walls were virtually unadorned. A few shelves held some shiny baubles from some years past, one scepter of some kind hung in a rack in a corner next to the lamp, and finally the object of most interest to Snowy at the moment was a bureau that sat below a large mirror about equal to its height.

"That should help me..." Snowy walked slowly toward the bureau, her hand moving to grasp the handle to the uppermost drawer. She bent down, still holding the great cloak about her as she pulled open the drawer and had a look. The contents within gave Snowy ample cause to sweatdrop. She stood from her bent position holding a small pure black cloak that seemed to shimmer in the light of the lamp. She gazed down into the drawer in wonder as numerous cloaks of exactly the same size and color lay in a neat pile.

"I had no idea he had so many of these..." her voice wavered as tears welled in her eyes, the brown cloak cascaded to the ground as she clutched the small garment to her chest. "why did you have to die!" she sobbed uncontrollably into the cloak as she crushed it to her chest. It was then that an event occurred that Snowy might never live to explain.

**To the outside observer Snowy's entire body began to emanate a surreal red aura. It flowed about her as if it were alive flaring to life and dissipating throughout her form. **

"are? Sniff... sniff... it feels so warm..." A warmth seemed to spread through her from the cloak in her hands, she felt such great comfort and contentment then that the only thought that reached her mind was, _He's alive... _

**As her eyes again opened to the world the red aura disappeared completely from her as if it never existed. The warmth and contentment she felt only seemed to increase as her mind was filled with the knowledge that Xellos was indeed alive.**

"He's alive! He's alive! XELLOS IS ALIVE!" She stood where she was although she was greatly tempted to prance around for joy completely naked.

**With this knowledge also came perhaps the lesser euphoria that she did know and would continue to know exactly where her beloved Xellos was at that moment... though the reasons for this remained a mystery even to her.**

"I have to see him again" she stated to herself as she hurriedly wiped a few stray tears from her face, "even if that dragon is there I have to see for myself..."

With that she lovingly placed Xellos's cloak back into the top drawer before shutting it. Her hand moved down to the middle drawer, she grasped the brown cloak about her once more as she pulled this drawer open to gaze unsurprised into its contents. Revealed to her vision by the light of the lamp she beheld two piles, one of yellow shirts, and the other black pants. She slammed this drawer shut grumbling audibly, "Honestly I may love him but he seriously needs new clothes..." ...

It was a few moments, after she had shut the door that she realized... and abruptly eeped in shock, "eep! Did I just...just say... love" _I did! There I said it again! How? I don't feel... _

She shuddered at the realization of the new power given to her, she no longer cringed at that word. A word that she had been berated for saying as a puppy and since felt pain whenever it was spoken even in euphemism, how could this be?

A smirk played across her features as she gazed into the mirror that she stood before. A rush of heat came to her cheeks for a reason she hardly knew, "I... lo..ve" the heat became almost unbearable as she was forced to stop, _Why is this so hard now!? _

She grimaced against her reflection, "I love Xellos!" she stated resolutely to her own reflection, the word once said seemed to become easier to say, _I love Xellos, I love Xellos, I love Xellos!_

The words pranced about her mind as her mind wandered into places.... places that well... her face turned redder than her ruby eyes as she hastily gazed down the the final drawer. Her hand rose resolutely before her form a V, "I will defeat that Golden Dragon!"

She yanked open the final drawer to reveal... Snowy had to shield her eyes from the bright flash emanating from the contents within. "What is that?"

The flash faded as she gazed down into the container, "what the..." within the drawer were dozens and dozens of small shiny objects. Combs, buttons, metal boxes, charms, small daggers (the kind for kids), and countless other jewel encrusted and none jewel encrusted items. Foremost among these, to Snowy's delight, was a garment of pure white. "Just what I need..." Snowy grasped the garment, several of the smaller trinkets moving chaotically about as she pulled it from its place. Snowy noticed that the garment seemed heavier than the simple shirts she was used to as she placed it on the bed. She walked over to the entrance to Xellos's room where she knew two hooks hung from the rock above.

She hurriedly gazed out into the hallway from right to left before ascertaining that no one was near. "alright then..."

She hurriedly removed the cloak from around her body before tossing it onto the hooks. With some slight adjusting the large cloak hung almost perfectly, blocking the entrance to anyone who might stare. Snowy walked back to the bed, stretching her arms into the air in comfort knowing that no one could see her. "alright then let's see what we have..."

She picked up the folded garment from its place on the bed, "woah..." She stared as she lifted the garment into the air, it unfolded to reveal a stunning white dress. It was elegantly simple, a single piece dress unadorned with frills or complex folds, it was full in the back and had short sleeves, the skirt ran down below Snowy's knees. It fit her perfectly, not so much a dress, as an all purpose semiformal workdress, like something a miko would wear...

Snowy held the dress to her as she stepped before the mirror, it really looked good on her. It was at this point in her euphoria that her eyes again wandered to the open drawer where she saw what lay below the dress... "What!?"

She held the dress to her as she pulled from the depths of the drawer a white lace bra and panties, "what the..." _What is Xellos doing with these things? _She examined the undergarments thoughtfully as she once more gazed at herself in the mirror. Her eyes wandered up and down her reflection until they came a stop at her chest, a rush of heat again reached her cheeks, but she shook it away. "I wonder... do I need...these"

Her human form was still a new thing, given to her not long ago by the Voirlendi. She didn't know or care how it looked as long as it was covered up enough, but now... "What would Xellos want to see?" She decided at that moment, an audible snap was heard as she worked the clasp together. She pulled the dress over herself until it cascaded of its own accord down her body, the feeling was quite new...

Snowy had just grasped a pair of white pants from the drawer when something caught her eye, "what is that?" she squinted her eyes into the drawer as what she had seen became clear. A smirk poked through her bewildered gaze, "Maybe with this..."

The sun shined dimly against the backdrop of the great multicolor sky above. For anyone who cared to stare into the westward sky it was truly a beautiful mix of oranges, yellows, and pinks. However, the gorgeous scenery was not the main topic of discussion for two particular travelers, as they made their way along a meandering path Northward. Instead, as evident by Filia's saucer sized eyes, the conversation had traveled elsewhere...

"hontoni? I can't believe Lina was serious when she said that..." _Honestly a mazoku casting white magic..._

"well it's very rare, in fact Lucile-san is the only mazoku ever to accomplish it..."

"heh..." _That's amazing... _

Filia couldn't help but feel a kind of awe for Deep Sea Dolphin, "she really is an incredible person isn't she..."

"hai" Xellos replied casually as they rounded a hill, "although very few people know the circumstances its commonly known that she healed a little girl..."

Filia sighed into the waining sun as she gazed down at it sinking into the sky. The two of them had spent the past few hours walking down this dusty road, as she gazed out upon it the area seemed to become more and more desolate with each footstep. The scenery showed little sign of improving as they crested a great hill, Xellos's staff plodding in the soft earth as they stopped to examine the valley below.

Filia stood atop the hill, a soft breeze playing with a few loose strands of her hair. She put a hand the renegade strands tucking them behind her ear, "nice breeze..." she commented as she stared down the hill. The main feature they could see below was a low lying stream that meandered past a large hill some distance away. It cut through their path before making its way northward, a further bend somewhere just before the horizon would bring it back south at some point. "Shall we go then?"

Filia turned to see Xellos staring back at her through partly open eyes, she answered with a nod as they continued their journey north. The wind began to pick up as they reached the base of another large hill the dust began to swear about them making it difficult to see, the unkempt path they had been using began to break up here.

"perhaps we should go around this thing..." Xellos bellowed through the howling wind, _Honestly if only I could use the astral plane..._

"yeah, it's getting difficult to see anyway, we should find someplace to camp for the night soon..." Filia spoke through the dust, her arm held up to shield her eyes,

They both stood in the sand preparing to ford their way through the swirling dust, when a sound all too different than the howling wind met their ears...

"XELLOS!" a booming female voice sounded through the howling wind and swirling sand that was all around them,

Filia turned from a few paces to the right of the hill to see Xellos engulfed in a white blur that knocked him to the ground. "Xellos!?" she called out as she dashed toward him, at that moment the wind began to die down and the sands return once more to the earth. Xellos had skidded to the ground some distance away from the force of whatever it was that hit him. Filia reached his side as the "something" reared its darlingly cute head, Filia recoiled back almost falling to the ground in recollection. "It's you! That little girl..."

"ite, what was that?" Xellos sat up feeling the weight of a female body over him. He rubbed the dust out of his eyes as he gazed down at the dazzlingly white girl before him. The girl had latched both arms squarely around him, "ano, could you let go of me please?" she stayed attached to him as she nuzzled her head against his chest. Xellos sat up with the girl still wrapped around him, he managed to pry her arms from him as he stood over her, his hands on her shoulders. "Now look..." it was then that he gazed into her dull red eyes and recognized the simple dress she was wearing, "Xellos, what's going on? Who is this girl?"

Filia came to Xellos's side as she stared down at the girl with long white hair before her, Snowy glared daggers at the dragon who recoiled as her gaze rounded on her, "Get away from Xellos, Golden Dragon bastard!"

"nani!" Filia roared in anger as her mace came to the fore, "why you little!"

"Stop Filia..." She was about to strike with her mace when Xellos held out his hand before her, she rounded on him, "Why not she deserved it for what she said!"

Xellos turned to face her flashing a bright smile, his eyes open, the waning sun panting his face a light orange, "Thank you Fi-chan, I'll be right back..."

With that the purple haired mazoku dashed up the hill faster than Filia had ever seen him run, "Don't act like you've one arguments that never happened, Xellos!" Filia shouted after him as she stomped on the sandy earth, _What the heck is going on!_

Her foot suddenly stopped thrashing against the earth as something came back to her, a short time ago, "Xellos said he watched a pup named Snowy..."

Filia dashed up the hill, the dust and dirt collapsing as each step sunk into the sandy earth. At the very top of the hill the ground became much firmer as Filia took cover behind a small bush, Xellos had not gone far with the girl, traveling just to the stream that lay only a few feet beyond the hilltop.

Xellos stood a few feet away from Snowy, just before the rushing waters of the stream. A million thoughts rushed through his mind as he gazed at her, the dress, the red eyes, her long white hair done up in a crude ponytail like style, her whole human form.

"I was wondering how long it was going to take you to recognize me..."

Now that they were alone together her voice sounded so much more timid, as he stared at her she relentlessly smoothed out her hair, tucking small strands of it behind her ear. She turned away from him as she straightened out a minuscule fold in her dress, "So... how do I look?" she turned to face him as he gazed back at her. His dull yellow eyes staring back at her seemed to bore into her as she tried to stare back, but with each passing second it seemed to become more difficult. Her fidgeting became worse and worse, _Please say something! _Her mind screamed out as her head remained bowed. Xellos stared at her, he watched her movements, the fixing, the fidgeting, her seeming inability to look straight at him, he could sense tears would come in a moment.

Snowy's head remained bowed as her thoughts berated her, "_He hates the way I look! Why did I have to try putting my hair up it looks ridiculous!" _She could feel tears welling in her eyes, she tried furiously to blink them away. It was then that she felt a hand on her shoulder, her gaze traveled upward to see Xellos standing before her, the bright smile she remembered from her youth plastered on her face, "You look good, Snowy-chan..."

"hontoni?" her expression immediately brightened as her hand vigorously wiped away a stray tear from each eye. She sniffed a few times as Xellos took his hand from her arm, "hontoni" he stood back a few paces gazing back at her as she brightened up back to the Snowy he remembered. "How has everything been going at home?"

"Fine..." Snowy replied a dreamy expression on her face, "Ku has a new name now..."

"Really? That's interesting..." Xellos's gaze had shifted away from Snowy as he heard a slight splash around the stream bank. When his gaze returned to Snowy she had turned around, facing the stream bank, "could you hold on a minute Xellos" her voice was quiet and shaky as she shifted her weight from foot to foot on the bank. "hai..." Xellos stood on the rocky bank, "Snowy..."

"haui?" her voice sounded a little muffled and strained, Xellos decided to ignore it for the moment, "do you remember that necklace I gave you a long long time ago?"

"necklace?" she paused for a moment gazing down at herself in the water, "I don't recall ever having a necklace are you sure you gave me one?"

Xellos's eyes widened for a moment before his gaze shifted to the ground, he kicked a small pebble into the rushing waters with a **Plunk! **As it fell beneath the current. He sighed as his gaze remained on the ground, "It doesn't really matter, don't worry about it..."

"Xellos?"

Xellos's gaze lifted from the earth to meet Snowy's timid features, he didn't look surprised at the lipstick container in her hand. He sighed into the scene as his eyes traveled to her face, flush with timid embarrassment and a more mature fear of rejection. The red lipstick applied with an inexperienced hand to her lips complimented her eyes and the heavy blush that crept to her cheeks, she slowly walked toward the elder mazoku. "I was wondering... I was wondering if we could..." Xellos offered no resistance as a hand crept to his cheek.

Filia gazed down at the scene before her, her mouth was dry as she saw the girl approach Xellos. The only thought that traversed her subconscious mind was the need to be anywhere than where she was now. She tried desperately to look away, but could do nothing as she witnessed the young girl leaning into Xellos, one hand wrapped around him, the other on his cheek. Filia's hands clenched so tightly around a group of stalks she was holding they snapped apart from their base with an audible **Snap!**

Her heart beat faster and faster as her gaze continued on the pair below, "_I shouldn't be seeing this!" _became, "_Why are they doing this!" _which became, "_They need to stop!" _

If the pair below hadn't pulled apart or perhaps a better phrase would be, if Snowy hadn't pulled away from the motionless Xellos, Filia didn't know what she would have done...

Xellos felt her warm hand leave his cheek as his gaze straightened to match hers. His eyes somehow seemed duller as he gazed down at her, his only thought during that moment had been, _Not much time left then... _

This sorrowful thought swirled through him in a spiral of depression. "Well I should go then! Lord Beastmaster is probably wondering where I am..." Snowy called cheerfully as she ran down the bank, "See you later then!" Xellos called back just as cheerfully as Snowy disappeared into the dark. As she disappeared his features became more sullen as he gazed to the ground sighing before putting on a reasonable smile. He turned from his spot gazing to the hilltop above. He was not surprised to see Filia running down the hill, "Sorry to keep you waiting, I think we can go on now..." his closed eyed smile in full force,

Filia huffed and puffed as she reached the base of the hill, whether it was to make it look like she wasn't spying, or simply because she was out of shape Xellos didn't know. "What was that all about Xellos!" Filia rushed into the bank whacking him squarely on the head with a well timed punch...

Xellos lay sprawled on the ground as Filia towered over him, her eyes red, her aura flared about her, "Tell me!" she bellowed at him as he sat up from the rocky ground.

Xellos stared back, his smile faded slightly, "alright I'll tell you..."

Filia's rage diminished almost instantly at his change in tone, this was the kind of tone she had come to know he only used when he was being serious. His staff plodded against the rock as he began the walk northward again, Filia followed a short distance behind. "That girl's name is Snowy, she is a puppy I used to watch..." he spoke without turning around, Filia again reached his side. For an instant she saw the frown streak across his face, then she blinked and it was gone. "A mazoku at a young age is no different than a human child, they feel the same emotions, happiness, compassion, and so on..."

"But that's..." Filia bowed her head at her own words, she had been saying this phrase and been wrong too many times recently. Xellos continued, "When a mazoku is about to reach puberty they become especially emotional and needy, which is what you saw back there..."

"I wasn't..." Filia could feel a strange sadness in his voice, she felt it was futile to lie to him knowing how good he was at sensing auras. She sighed, one last question entering her mind, "What happens after puberty?"

She glanced over at the mazoku next to her, most of his expression seemed shrouded in shadow. Filia felt some strange pain in her chest, she had to change the subject, "What was your childhood like!?"

Xellos was taken aback by her sudden question, his gaze shifted to her and then to the road again, "Sad and short..."

"Gak!" Filia nearly collapsed to the ground, "because you know when I was a little girl, I snuck into the restricted part of the library..."

Xellos stared strangely at her a strange expression on his face, "and?"

Filia smiled feeling a little better, "I read a book..." she sounded utterly confident like it was the greatest achievement of her life...

Xellos just stared at her blankly, Filia stared back and saw first with happiness than with suspicion. It began with a chuckle and then turned into a full blown laugh, "hahhahahaha Fi-chan that must have been a great accomplishment!"

"I was 23 what do you expect?" Filia flared back blushing at the memory, _I had to pick that one... _

"Well I hope it was a good one to risk the wrath of the late Elder"

Filia's blush increased as her head bowed, "actually I was only 23 so I couldn't really read most of it..."

Eventually Xellos stopped laughing, possibly of his own free will, possibly because Filia brought forth her mace, either way they continued once more down the northward road. Their path took them along the stream as they walked along the rocky bank Filia glanced down at Xellos and remembered what they had forgotten. "Xellos..."

"Hmm?" Xellos turned to find Filia pointing at his staff, "what is it?"

"During the battle with Dynast you must have gotten some blood on your gloves..." Filia gazed with some amusement at his normally white glove, now partly stained a pinkish color. "oh... right I was going to wash these off..." Xellos stared at his gloves allowing his staff to fall to the ground,

"I can get it..!." _I've always wanted to know what your hiding under these things..._

Filia far too eagerly lunged for Xellos's gloves, he withdrew his hands seconds before she reached them causing her to skid forward. "No thanks Fi-chan I can get them..."

Xellos began to turn toward the rushing waters of the spring, "Come on Xellos I just wanna help!" Filia flung herself forward, Xellos wasn't prepared and she managed to grasp the glove on his right hand. She pulled hard on the garment as it slowly began to come away from his hand. Her eyes widened as she stared down at a small bit of stark white skin revealed by the receding glove also was the beginning of a dark scar along the back of his hand... "I said I could get it!" Xellos's voice bellowed in anger as he slapped her hand away with his other hand. He either yelled louder than he meant to or hit harder than he intended, because he immediately turned away from Filia who stood rubbing her hand with the other. She stared a few moments before responding angrily, "Fine! Wash your own stupid gloves, see what it matters to me!" before turning from the scene and stalking off back onto the trail. Xellos sighed turning his attention to his gloves and the stream. He pulled off each glove, thrashing each about in the water until the stains were nearly unnoticeable. Stepping from the stream he returned the soaked gloves to his hands, pulling them snugly over his hands, instantly feeling more secure in the feeling of cloth over them.

"_I can't believe he did that! Hitting me, who does that mazoku think he is!" _Filia continued to silently fume, mumbling some incoherent phrases as she continued to stomp noisily ahead crushing a few helpless shrubs as they crossed her path. Xellos sighed again, he could tell she was mad at him, it was not something Filia was good at concealing. He knew this and that it was going to take some supreme effort to calm her down, "I'm sorry Fi-chan please forgive me..." he called to her in a childish singsong voice, she responded with a "Feh!" cocking her head to the side.

Filia stared outward as the last vestiges of sunlight flittered their way across the sky in preparation for night, "_If that mazoku thinks I'll forgive him that easily, he's wrong..." _

"When I was 32..."

"ah!" Filia shrieked as Xellos appeared at her side, she held a hand to her heart, "did you have to do that!" _almost gave me a heart attack, honestly..._

Xellos continued to walk by her saying nothing, minutes passed as they continued to walk forward, finally Filia couldn't take it anymore. "And?" she finally blurted out, "what happened when you were 32?"

Xellos's smile broadened as his gaze shifted from the open road to her, "When I was 32 I snuck into a library..."

Filia smacked him on the head, "Don't steal my life!" although through her beating even Xellos could see the slight smile return to her face, "oh, I thought it was a story you would believe, I guess not..."

Filia sighed, "I guess I can forgive you..." _Wait..._

She stopped for a moment turning to Xellos, **Smack!, **she slapped him as hard as she could on the hand, she saw the cringe of pain on his face and smiled, "ok, now we're even..."

"Goody..." For a moment the two looked at each other and shared a simultaneous smile before returning to their walk. The two continued their journey north unaware that they were being followed by more than one figure.

Unbeknownst to anyone only a few feet away a dark purple haired woman walked just behind the two lying in a layer of the astral plane upon which you couldn't be seen or heard. It had been a mere thirty minutes from the glove incident as the sun finally set beyond the horizon, and already the Xefia was bored.

"ahhhh! It's so boring! Their just going to walk for hours and do nothing! Oh I want to do something so bad!" _Maybe just a little kiss..._

She lifted her hands to cast a little spell when a familiar voice pounced on her mind, **_Don't even think about it Xefia..._**

Xefia sighed outwardly as she lowered her hands once more, **_hai hai, I know Maven-san I know..._**

She sighed again staring through the gloom at her quarry, "honestly, can't you two walk a little faster, its amazing you make it at all..."

"We should probably settle down for the night..." _I'm tired..._

"If you want... we'll probably reach the palace by tomorrow anyway..." Xellos said pointing to the north with his staff indicating a faint mountain range in the distance,

"really!? That close? Then I think I can go a bit longer!" _Let's go!_

Filia dashed forward with a sudden burst of speed, Xellos stayed behind watching her make a fool of herself with her reckless running. Sure enough she stopped two dozen or so yards away, winded from the sudden exertion. Xefia watched her too, but felt compelled to run after her, not wanting to loose the weaker of her most important two that she had to follow this night in the dark. The downside for this particular use of the astral plane was that it limited your own sight of the events occurring around you, Xefia could not sense the great mass of darkness moving toward them. She heard Xellos cry out behind her, she turned to him just as Filia did, he was running toward them, but it was too late. Suddenly the stars and moon above were swallowed in darkness. Xellos watched as a great mass of darkness covered the whole land infront of him. Before he could do anything a black gelatinous mass, something like a mixture between jet black smoke, thick tar, and something else. He tried to escape it, but the mass surrounded him, pinning him and his flaring red aura to the ground.

Filia lay on the rocky ground, she sat up groggily grasping her head, "what happened...?"

she gazed around in the inky blackness, "Xellos?" she called out not seeing him there...

Xefia stared at the dragon before her, they were siting in what seemed like a pocket of some great mass of darkness. She couldn't yet sense anything from it, but she knew this was not something that happened before, "_They would have mentioned this at some point..." _

It was lucky that she remained in the safety of the astral plane, she sighed if just for that piece of good news as she gazed down at her hands. She gulped hard as her hands began to loose their ethereal glow, "Shit!" she yelled out now, that she would have one last word not overheard by Filia.

"La la lala la la..." a pair of feet skipped about a dank hallway, "La lalala la la..." a pure white dress swished in the rush of movement. "La lalalala la!" Snowy giggled like a little schoolgirl as she reached the outside of Lord Beastmaster's room by some chance...

She stood outside the room her heart all aflutter, "_I'm so happy!" _more giggling ensued as she gazed within to see Lemure bowing before her master, "Hail Beastmaster-sama!" she couldn't help but shout to her master. Lemure stepped back to the side in disgust of the little creature before him, he straightened out his brimless glasses, clearing his throat. Snowy sweatdropped as she pulled herself from her euphoria into a slightly more dignified manner, "ahem, I mean, I'm back from... umm Xellos's room I guess, for whatever reason I was there..."

"I can see that..." Zellas stated from her chair, a ball of white yarn resting between her legs, Snowy watched her with interest as she seemed to be knitting something, "ano, excuse me Master, but what are you doing?"

Zellas looked from her work to the girl before her, "oh this?" she stated looking back to a neat scrap of cloth she had apparently knitted, "This was going to be a replacement for that lovely shirt you had on, but I see you found something else? I assume you stole it, it looks very nice on you..." Zellas complemented tossing her work and the entire yarn to the side, they immediately burst into flames becoming a smoldering heap on the ground.

Snowy's face brightened at the complement, "thank you, Master, is there anything you want from me?" she pranced about happily as she spoke feeling another rush of euphoria coarse through her...

Zellas gazed down at the ever whitening Lemure who seemed on the point of fainting, "Actually Snowy-chan you could help me, by fetching that cloak I lent you... Can you do that for me sweetie?" Zellas asked in an abnormally sweet voice that Lemure had never heard her use before, "Hai Beastmaster-sama!" She immediately strode off giggling happily from the experience, already planning further trips to see Xellos, and to show up that Dragon, she would win in the end of course.

Lemure sighed in relief, "thank you, Lord Beastmaster, I don't know how much more of that I could take..." _I hate puppies..._

"She will be back soon, so what do you have to report?"

Lemure cleared his throat, trying to get through his report as quickly as possible, "I have gathered reports from all over the realm and they indicate that many within your empire are shall we say... displeased" he finished with a pronounced gulp, giving Zellas bad news was never the way to general well being...

Although today she seemed relatively at ease, her eyes wandered from him to the three great weapons held on the far wall, "and?" she paused, "what is the source of their displeasure?" she focused her attention more solidly on Lemure now, although she already knew the answer.

"It would appear to be the defection of Xellos Mettalium, many on the mainland and even a few on this very island have voice feelings that you have gone too soft on him..."

Zellas began tapping her foot against the floor, Lemure gulped on reflex, "I have sent a nameless, faceless minion to monitor the situation and given my word that I would resolve it, that should be enough for them..."

Her tapping continued, if anything it picked up its pace, "Even so..."

Lemure was cut off as Zellas stood from her throne and faced the weapons, their deadly auras calling to her to bring them from their cases, to use them... to make her strong

She turned her head from the gazing pensively at Lemure, "Lemure..."

"I'm back" Snowy walked through a little more conservatively now that the feeling of her first kiss subsided to controllable levels, "sorry it took so long, it became tangled in one of the hooks and it took me some time to get it out..." she stated holding out the cloak before her...

Zellas stood between the two figures, countless thoughts ringing through her mind at once, "_I think I need to see, to be sure." _She turned to Snowy grasping the cloak that the pup held out for her, she wrapped it about herself, "thank you Snowy, you may leave now..."

"alright... good night then" Zellas simply nodded as Snowy exited the room and began her journey down the partly lit hallways and caverns,

Zellas's gaze turned to Lemure, "Lemure, I'm going for a walk, when I come back I want an answer..."

She turned from the mazoku record keeper walking a few paces toward the door, "wait! An answer to what Beastmaster-sama!" he called after her as she reached the door. The Lord of All Beasts turned to him a broad, predatory smile adorning her face, "Am I feared for who I am, or am I feared for those weapons that I was given?" with that she turned, disappearing into the dark with a bright flash of the deepest black.

Lemure looked puzzled, but in an instant he had turned away from the door, a confident smirk about his face before he too disappeared in the darkness.

Filia continued to stare around her, feeling nothing the rocky surface of the stream bank below her, and seeing nothing but the inky blackness of something beyond the blackest night. It was then that the flash of light caught her attention. First, a pair of hands and disembodied feet appeared, then in a line from these parts a pair of arms and legs. In a minute the torso and chest, the first indication that this was a female, appeared followed by the shoulders and head. A long cascade of dark purple hair and startlingly blue eyes finished off the form as she gazed out at the Filia. The woman blinked a few times before raising a cautious hand, "umm, hi..." _This is really awkward..._

Filia stared at the woman as the shock of her appearance faded remembrance occurred, "ah! Your that ancient dragon!" _I'm good at recognizing faces..._

The woman gazed around nervously, "no, I'm not you didn't see me at all! Be careful I have great powers!"

Filia sweatdropped as the woman made a complete fool of herself, making a "oohing" sound and waving her arms around, "ano... may I ask what your name is?"

Xefia stopped her ridiculous performance realizing it wasn't having an affect. She sheepishly placed a hand behind her head, "umm, well my name is Xefia, and I really have to be going, bye bye!"

She waved her hand in a childish fashion as she was surrounded in a flash of light. "No wait!" Filia called, but it was too late the woman had already disappeared. Filia fell back to the ground, "_It would have been nice to have some company..."_ Just as her mopey thoughts began to swirl there was another great flash of light coupled with a scream, "Ahhhhfzzfztazfzzzfztzaahzfzttt" Xefia reappeared from the light, collapsing to the hard earth. "Are you alright!?" Filia called as she scrambled to her feet, kneeling to avoid hitting her head on the mysterious substance above her. She reached out and grabbed the purple haired womans shoulder receiving a small shock, "oww! What was that?"

"oh, don't worry, I'm fineeeeeee..." Xefia sat up another spark resembling electricity flashed around her body, "dooon't worrry abbbout it, I'll just try the other wayyy.." She stood as straight as she could, though wobbly, "bye bye then..." she waved weakly disappearing in a flash of darkness. Before she even disappeared completely the darkness ebbed away and sparks flashed all about her, "ahfzztftztzftzfztttttattaht" she again collapsed, but was caught by Filia who held an arm around her, keeping her from falling to the rocky bottom.

Her eyes blinked open slowly as she stared out into the gloom, "damn it..." she wheezed another spark running through her... "You really should stop this..."

The ancient dragon stared out into Filia's blue eyes, her expression was so solemn and concerned. She sat up as much as she could once more, "sorry, but I have places I need to be..." her legs sagged suddenly as a further spark hit her hard, "allllrighty then I'll just havvve to try both..." Filia watched in horror as a flash of darkness and light engulfed the young woman who stood only inches from her.

Xellos shot up from the ground, his ears perked up as he could swear he heard a scream. "Where am I?" he gazed around groggily through the inky blackness, his hand strayed to the back of his head. He winced as his hand reached a sore spot where he must have been knocked against the ground with some immense force. He stood in what looked to him like a long tunnel of the same inky black substance as that which had pummeled him to the ground. Although the surroundings were unfamiliar in the same sense he had been walking through tunnels most of his life, there really were only two ways to go. And if memory could be trusted Filia was last only a few yards ahead...

Filia sat before a small patch of water to a far corner of the bubble. She found from digging through the rocks that they had become encapsulated in the strange substance that now seemed as hard as stone, but in some instances as fluid as smoke. Her hair lay across her back as she soaked the bunched up ribbon in the tiny pool. She lifted it from the water squeezing it in her hand before dabbing it lightly over Xefia's forehead. The young woman lay sprawled on the ground, her head carefully placed in Filia's lap. Filia leaned back against a side of their imprisonment, staring down at the woman before her. "So your name is Xefia?" she spoke to herself as she continued to dab the moist ribbon over her, "I wonder how old you are? Maybe 800 years?" A tear fell down her cheek as more threatened to spill from her... "oh... my head"

Filia sniffed as she removed the ribbon from her forehead, "are you alright?"

Xefia gazed about groggily, holding a hand to her forehead, "I suppose well thought out plan didn't work then?" she sat up gazing at Filia who chuckled, "no... I found you smoldering on the ground."

Xefia was going to laugh too before she saw the tears spilling in the Golden Dragon's eyes, "Is being with me so repulsive to you?" a few more tears fell to the loose rocks.

Xefia frantically waved her hands about dismissively, "ohh that was nothing, I just had somewhere to be, I didn't mean I didn't want your company, I just... STOP CRYING!"

Filia stared at the ancient dragon breathing heavily from the exertion of her outburst, she wiped the tears from her eyes, "Is it really alright?" Xefia shook her head violently in the affirmative... "yes, its fine, I can stay..." _I have to stay now it seems..._

Xefia leaned against the wall beside Filia, "So, uhm now that I'm here... what do you want to talk about?"

Filia stared into the inky blackness her expression contemplative, "well, I like sunflowers, what kinds of things do you like?"

Xefia chuckled lightly, "alright then, I think I can answer these..."

"hmm, which way to go..." Xellos was beginning to get frustrated, it felt like he'd been walking for countless minutes through a maze of the same shifting darkness. He could remember few instances in his life where he felt so helpless as he sat for a moment against the tunnel wall. He couldn't use the astral plane, he still subconsciously rubbed the sore muscles that served as a testament to that fact. His powers seemed muted here, he couldn't sense where Filia was as much as he tried and he seemed to only get weaker as time went on in this place. He sighed pulling himself to his feet, he leaned a bit too much on his staff than he was comfortable with, but that couldn't be helped at the moment. Before him was a small chamber, a forked path sprouted from this providing three possible routes. Xellos was considering Jankenponing it when a faint sound reached his ears... He immediately dashed down the center path, "It can't be..." Xellos was not accustomed to hoping for an easy end to any situation so he held his staff at the ready infront of him as he lunged forward into the darkness. The sound became louder and more distinct, there was no mistake now that it was the panicked cries of a small child...

The small bubble prison was filled with the sound of laughter, "You really knocked over that priceless vase?! Hahahaha" Xefia burst out laughing, "It was an accident! I was just a little girl at the time and my parents overreacted..." Filia retorted huphily, but unable to suppress a grin herself...

"and so they sent you to study under the Elder and become a priestess to teach you good morals?"

"yep..." Filia carried away by the moment couldn't help but ask, "Come on I'm sure you did things in the past that your parents disapproved of..."

The good mood died away, Filia quickly covered her mouth with her hand, "oh! I can't believe I said that I'm so sorry..." _I'm such an idiot!_

A tear rolled down Xefia's cheek making Filia feel even worse. Xefia wiped away the tear as she watched, Filia kneeled before her bowing as low as she could, "Please forgive me for my mistake!"

"It's alright... it's alright, I can talk about my parents..." _OK... gotta put the thinking cap on..._

"Are you sure it's alright?" Filia leaned back once more against the wall, "I wouldn't want to dredge up bad memories..." Xefia just gave her a reassuring smile before lifting her head to what would be the stars, her expression wistful, "My parents... well, they were both amazing people who cared about each other very much. Hmm, they were kind and caring especially my mother, which is not to say my father wasn't the same, but I would describe him more as an experienced teacher, the kind of person you could really respect and sought attention from..."

Filia watched as a broad smile rounded on her face, "we did so many fun things together, going on picknicks, to the hot springs on occasion, it was a wonderful childhood... and then..."

Her expression became somber, "and then something terrible happened and my whole family died, my mother, my father, my brother..." After she said this she immediately smacked herself on the head, "_Why did I say that! She's just going to take it the wrong way... baka baka baka!" _

Xefia heard sniffling and turned to see large tears rolling from Filia's eyes, "I'm so sorry!" she wailed her hands clenched on her lap. Xefia watched this her hands clenched at her sides, "It's not..."

"_**Xefia..where..are you!?" **_Maven's voice interjected her sentence, Filia watched as Xefia suddenly shot upright so fast she whacked her head against the ceiling, **Whack! **"oww! **_Maven I was going to call you, but I wasn't sure telepathy was going to work" _**_That and I didn't need another shock..._

Filia watched as Xefia stood rubbing her sore head tenderly, "What is it?"

Xefia looked down at her, "I just have to talk to a friend for a minute, don't worry..."

"oh, I see..." Filia responded gazing down at the rocks sniffing as she wiped another tear from her eyes, "**_Kyah! Maven she's just sitting there looking so sad!" _**

"_**I called because I couldn't sense your location, what's going on there?" **_

Xefia shrugged, "**_Well, we were walking along nicely when this black stuff swarmed in from nowhere, and we became trapped in it..." _**

"_**Is that right? Do you know of anything like this happening before..." **_Maven's voice became pensive, **_"No not that I can think of at the moment..." _**

"_**hmm, I'll see what I can do... this incident may have something to do with what happened before..." **_

Xefia grit her teeth, **_"I swear I put enough power into that shot to blast that icicle to shavings!"_**

"_**Yes, that incident and this one might be related... it seems Time is not wanting this to be easy..." **_

"Hmph!" **_What about Filia?_**

"_**What about her?" **_

Xefia paced as much as one could in the cramped confines of their cell, **_"It seems I was transferred from the astral plane, so she saw me, and now we've been talking for some time now..." _**

"_**You better not have..." **_Maven's voice became cross,

"_**I haven't but Maven!" **_Xefia paused for a moment her gaze landing on Filia as she wallowed in the corner, "**_She's just sitting there beating herself up over something that happened hundreds of years ago before I was even born! I have to tell her the truth Maven!" _**

"_**Calm down!" **_Maven's voice wrung through her mind, she sat down hard against the rock her back hitting the hard wall, **_"Then what should I say Maven? Should I accept her apology for a massacre that I was never a part of? That has nothing to do with me? Should I lie to her to make her feel better?" _**

Filia watched dully as the young woman before her seemed to be waging a mental war. She fidgeted about, pacing, her hand held to her head at times. Until finally she just collapsed to the wall, her expression that of woe, an almost pleading look in her eyes. Filia reached out a comforting hand to her, contemplating, she pulled it away just before reaching her shoulder. She gazed down at it, holding it to her chest, "Is something wrong?" she finally asked after moments of silence...

Xefia turned her head to the golden dragon slowly, her eyes glazed over in thought, a comforting voice rang through her mind, **_"Tell her... Tell her exactly what you think... Whether she was responsible... tell her how you feel" _**

"Almost there..." Xellos ran toward the source of that wailing sound. The path had turned and rounded, with each footfall the tunnel seemed to widen out, "_Whoever that is I'm going to find them... What?" _

As Xellos reached a bend the sound suddenly cut off, Xellos picked up his pace further, not caring about the pain he suddenly felt in his legs, or the way his lungs burned with each staggering breath. He stopped just after rounding the bend, the tunnel funneled out into a great cavern so expansive that the sides could no longer be seen.

Xellos slowly scanned the area, a thin mist covered the area making visibility a bit more difficult. Deprived of his senses he felt blind walking through the large expanse, his eyes suddenly narrowed, "there..." he ran through the mist, his staff clanking on the hard ground toward two barely recognizable forms lying motionless on the floor.

As he reached them the mist cleared away revealing for all to see the bloodied form of Filia. Xellos stared closer, placing a hand on her body, he found an equally wounded Val clutched in her arms. He kneeled by her, "Filia..." he stroked her blood streaked hair, clearing a few stray strands from her face and tucking them behind her ear. His face was bowed, his face kept in shadow except for a broad grin that shown through the darkness. He shot up turning sharply, "Do you think I would be fooled by such an obvious trick? I have seen better done by puppies!" he called out as a figure appeared from the shadows. Xellos stared as the mist and gloom cleared, a young woman strode slowly from the entrance to the cavern. His eyes widened as he gazed at the tall woman, her long brown hair swaying in some unknown breeze, her bright blue eyes shimmering in some unknown light. He grasped his staff with both hands suddenly becoming weak in the knees. He struggled to maintain his vision as it seemed to blur, "Whoever you are..." he grit his teeth against a growing pain in his chest, "I can't believe you would stoop to this... ahhh" he clutched his chest as he knelt to the ground, "She's.. been dead.. for nearly a...thousand years.." he gasped out bringing his staff forward, he swung it with as much forth as he could muster... but just before it struck her, he stopped... the staff stood motionless in the air.

"It may be a low trick..." Xellos's staff clattered to the ground, the woman placed a hand to his forehead, "What are you...?" he managed to blurt out before his eyes became unfocused. His eyes shut as he fell to the floor, as he collapsed to the ground, a red glow trailed behind him. As his body hit the ground the glow coalesced into an after image of Xellos, following his body to the ground, almost breaking away from it...

The woman watched as the red glow disappeared, "but at least it made you less difficult"

A sound wrung through the great cavern. It was a series much like the repeated clattering of metal against metal. A bright blue light enshrouded the woman as she was lifted a few inches from the smooth floor her form changed. She grew a few inches taller, her hair turned to a golden blond, her eyes to a dull brown, and the simple long dress she wore transformed into a shimmering white robe that spilled down to the floor. She held a staff in her left hand, it was a simple wooden rod, at its top was a fine golden point and broad extensions that curled back to the rod itself. Inside these loops were several smaller rings that lifted and clanged against the metal creating the sound, they stopped jostling against the sides and rested against the base. Her expression was hard to read, but her eyes showed great contemplation, "I hope you are happy Xellos, in the choice that you have made..." The rings clanged together as she disappeared in a flash of darkness.

"No matter what happened in the past.. no matter how great a tragedy that occurred, you were not responsible..." Xefia paused taking Filia's hand into hers, tears welled in her eyes, "I want you to know that you are a very kind person who would never commit such a horrible crime, and so you shouldn't feel sorry" Xefia's voice began to waiver, she clutched Filia's hand to her cheek, her eyes closed blinking away the tears, "I want you to be happy! To live for the future... not dwell on the past..."

Filia stared through clouded eyes at the sobbing creature before her, she felt the warmth of her hands and the wetness of her tears... "Xefia..."

The ancient dragon lifted her gaze to her as Filia withdrew her hand, "Xefia.." she began to wipe away her tears, when she brought her hand away a smile pierced the gloom of her tearstained face, "Thank you..."

"Your welcome..." The two broke into a kind of laughter that rejuvenated both from their sorrows. Filia sniffed a few more times wiping the last vestiges of tears from her face, Xefia did the same with a scoop of water from the small pool. "Ah! That's much better..." they both said at the same time and in the same way causing another bought of laughter...

"_**Xefia?" **_A familiar voice filled her mind, **_"I've reached somewhere near the spot..." _**

The young woman floated high above a great dark splotch covering the land, visible only due to the light of the moon and stars. She crossed her legs as she lowered to just a few yards above a portion of the great mass, **_"I am going to see what I can do out here... I don't want to make a mistake and fry you... but we can't waste time..." _**

Xefia sweatdropped as she lay against the wall, **_"ehhh heh, I know you'll make the right decision..." _**Part of her felt that her friend, as much of a friend as she was, would make a rash decision for the sake of the schedule, **_"Should we just wait here until something happens? We don't really have anything else to do... Xellos not being around, I doubt we could break this black stuff..." _**

Maven held out her hands flat against the ground below her, **_"That should do!" _**she called out as a great wave of darkness shot from her. Below, the blast contacted the mass of darkness blowing a whole through it, and even a crater into the ground... _"This could take longer than I thought" _Maven felt a small sweatdrop form, she sighed, **_"Xefia it may not look like it too you..." _**she paused as the dark fluid mist filled in the hole, covering the ground, the whole black mass shifted violently, **_"But whatever this stuff is, it seems to be moving, constantly... it may be some time before I can get you out..." _**

Xefia sighed, **_"alright then..." _**she turned to Filia who looked back at her questioningly, "my friend says that, it may take some time before we can get out of here"

"Oh? What is this friend like?" _Telepathy I guess, its not like its that uncommon... _Filia asked placing her hands behind her head against the wall, Xefia lay back on the loose gravel toying with a stone in her hand, "well... she can be a very bossy person..." _And maybe a little bratty..._

The same bossy, perhaps bratty, woman sat above the scene where three very important people lay trapped. Her long brown hair shimmered in the moonlight, her bright red eyes were set and focused, her hands flat, parallel to the ground. With a slight exertion of her muscles energy flared around her and a blast shot forth toward the seething mass below. The darkness below dissipated, revealing a bare patch of ground for a moment before it was swallowed again by the shifting darkness. She scanned the area before moving to a new place, a blast resounding through the night. Again and again she continued this pattern all through the night, hoping that she would blast near them, and not on them. Finally after hours of doing this she collapsed to the ground, "I need a new plan..." she stared into the waning light of the moon, the sun near ready to rise above the horizon.

Maven sat up wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead, "Perhaps..." she strode from the grassy patch she had found, next to the dark blotch on the landscape was a large oasis. She walked from the tree lined splendor until she stood only feet from the darkness, which had become more unsightly in the light of the sun.

She held her hand out flat against the hard surface, a blast of dark energy shot forth from her hand. The darkness fell away like concrete forming a small hole, she gazed through it to see a long stretch of tunnel. Instantly the darkness began to reform over the wound, Maven saw her chance, diving through the hole before it could reform she fell to the ground rolling to a standing position. She straightened out her dark brown cloak before beginning a slow walk forward, she held out her hand and in a flash of darkness a beautiful katana appeared in her hand.

**Clack..Clack...Clack! **Xefia sighed, she had been busying herself tossing stones about, but even this was beginning to become boring. Filia had fallen asleep and now lay against the wall, Xefia felt comforted by her soft breathing. She scooched over to the wall, lying against it, she closed her eyes. She could still hear Filia, her slow breathing in and out, she could even swear she heard her heartbeat. It was so soothing she was beginning to fall asleep... "Xefia, get..."

"huh?" She sat up suddenly rubbing her eyes, "what is it?" she glanced around for a moment before lying back against the wall. A sharp blade shot through the rock floor just inches from her leg, "Ahh!"

Xefia scrambled to her feet, Filia woke up to see her pressing as close as she could to the wall, "Xefia, what is it?" it was then that her groggy vision saw the shining blade sawing through the bottom of the cozy little bubble, her mind shot to action, "ah!" she screamed as she pulled her legs from the blade as it passed. In an instant the bottom fell away, Filia watched as a woman poked her head through the large hole she had created. Maven stared from right to left at the shocked and incredulous faces, "what? I said get ready..."

Xefia dashed through the whole, pausing a moment to stretch her arms as high as she could, "Kyah! That feels so much better, hai Filia-san" she held out her hand helping the dragon through the hole. The three stood in a long tunnel, Filia looked down both ends, but failed to see an end to either. She then gazed more closely at the third woman, she had long brown hair and dazzling red eyes, "and I assume your name is Maven?"

Maven turned to her, placing her katana in a sheath that now appeared at her side, "hai..." she then rounded on Xefia pulling her to the side by her ear, "owww! What is it Maven?"

She let go a few paces away, "Xefia-san..." her voice deadly sweet, "how much did you tell her?" Xefia shrugged, "Just your name and some insignificant details about your unique mannerisms..."

Maven sighed, "alright, we have to go... I haven't found Xellos yet, but we should get Filia out first..." she turned to Filia, "Come on we're going..." with that Maven dashed forward down the tunnel.. Xefia waited a moment, "Come on Filia..." she grabbed Filia's arm as they dashed down the tunnel after Maven, "What about Xellos!?' she called to her saviors, "Don't worry about him, we'll find him later..."

Maven dashed through a maze of tunnels and cavernous rooms that seemed to stretch forever... it had taken her sometime to find the way... she hoped that they still had enough time...

After nearly thirty minutes they reached a wall that seemed to stretch for miles in any direction. Without even stopping Maven drew her katan, slicing forward the cutting force expanded out from the blade, cutting a wide swath of the darkness. It fell like blocks of stone to the ground before dissipating like smoke. The three rushed from the darkness as the great gouge reformed behind them. Filia stumbled to the ground breathing hard as she struggled to catch her breath from the long run. "Shit!" Maven had to cover her eyes from the glaring light of the late afternoon sun, "_We lost almost a day..." _

Xefia met Maven's worried gaze with one of her own as they both stared into the sun. "Xellos!" They turned from the bright light immediately at the sound of Filia's high pitched scream. They saw her running toward a prone form lying on the soft grass...

Xellos opened his eyes, he stared into a dark and hazy place. He tried to move, but found he could not... he stared into the haze to find it coalescing to form something. The scene grew darker as two forms coalesced from the mist, a shining red blur, and a shining blue blur. As he stared the figures stepped from the mist becoming almost clear enough to see...

"Xellos!"

He blinked hearing a familiar voice through the void, he awoke to a bright day, his eyes seemed to focus. He stared out feeling something warm and comforting through his gloved hand, "Xellos?" he turned to see Filia swathed in the bright light of the sun, "sashiburi Fi-chan" he said slowly, watching her expression brighten. He sat up feeling his strength return to him..."where are we?" his gaze shifted from her to Xefia and Maven standing a short distance away... "and who are they?" he said rubbing his head as it throbbed continually...

"Xellos, Xefia and me were trapped in that, thing, over there, do you remember what happened to you?"

Before Xellos could answer his eyes widened, he growled as he stared down the hill, Filia followed his vision to see a tall woman with long blond hair below. "Bastard!" Xellos yelled as he dashed below, "wait Xellos!" Filia followed him, her eyes never leaving the woman, her cold gaze evident from even that distance...

Xellos arrived first at the bottom of the hill, he stared at the woman with perhaps more hate in his eyes than he ever had anyone else.

"You look mad..." the woman held a light smile about her face as she stared at the seething mazoku, "I've killed a lot more people for a lot less than what you did..." he growled fiercely at the blond haired woman. "As have I..." the woman responded in the same sweet voice,

Filia watched as a fiery aura surrounded Xellos, she could feel the heat from the shining read aura, could hear his growling voice... "EienVualFier!" he cried out into the waning afternoon sun. A plume of burning fire and blazing red aura shot forth from Xellos toward the blond woman. She smirked dangerously, the rings on her staff sounded quickly and harshly as she brought her staff to the fore. Filia watched as a great bubble of light shot around her, her breath caught in her throat, "Holy Barrier!" she cried, _What's going on...! _

The stream of flame and energy reacted all around the barrier erupting in a cascade of conflagration. Xellos knelt to the ground, he hadn't gotten his full strength back, even this relatively simple spell was draining him...

Filia saw him fall to the ground, she looked from the woman, the flames erupting all around her, to Xellos as he grew weaker and weaker on the ground. She could think of only one thing to do...

"Xellos!" she dashed forward, the mazoku didn't turn such was his concentration at that moment, but had to react as he felt a warm body over his. He turned his head slightly to see hers over his shoulder, "Filia?"

She braved the burning aura that flared all around her to place her hands over his, the aura burned her hands, but she held them there, "Ha!"

She yelled, her eyes closed as her own bright aura surrounded her, Xellos felt a burning sensation across his back as her aura reached him. The pain in her hands heightened, but Filia was pleased to see her aura be taken up with Xellos's, the great stream of burning red mixed with her pure light. Xellos stared in wonder as the energy shot forth, Filia's holy magic joined with that of the barrier, like two soap bubbles joining. The woman stared down the fire swirling all about her, the flames making her expression hard to see, but it could be certain that some type of smile adorned her features.

The ringing of her staff increased, Xellos watched as the swirling flame and energy was repulsed along with her holy barrier. He stopped casting the spell, the red energy and flame dissipated around him as he remained kneeled. The woman floated above them, her staff held out, it seemed that she was ready to cast yet another spell. A great blast of darkness erupted all around her, Filia turned to see Maven holding her hand out flat, a warm breeze ran through the soft grasses and tall trees of the oasis.

"Don't meddle!" Maven called out, her voice utterly serious it reverberated across the entire area. The woman still remained floating in the air, she wiped a small smudge that had appeared on her robe, "You meddled first little girl..." she continued sweetly, "I am only here to balance the scales..."

With that the woman disappeared, the great black splotch disappeared as into a cloud of dark vapor that dissipated into nothing. Xellos turned his gaze to Filia, "That was great Fi-chan to think you could come up with something helpful!"

Filia half laughed, "hahaha thank you Xellos! Die!" she whacked forward with her hand, but he managed to roll to the ground to avoid it... in the end they both chased each other until their exhaustion forced them to the ground.

Xefia stared down at them happily, "well they seem to be getting along nicely..." _I should make them kiss again... tee hee_

A hand bopped her squarely on the head, "oww! What was that for Maven-san"

"I know what you were thinking..." the young woman replied, "we lost a day and now we have to make it up somehow..." Maven mused putting a hand to her chin as she stared at the waning sunlight...

"Maven..." the young woman turned feeling her friends shaking hand on her arm, "Xefia? What's wrong?"

Her friend was shaking badly, her face seemed white, "we have to go, now!" she was staring out into the waning sun. Maven continued to gaze at her looking concerned, "why? What's going to happen?"

"If I'm right about the timing something very bad is about to happen and I don't want to be here to see it so please! We have to go!"

Maven looked worried, but nodded all the same, "alright..." the two disappear into the darkness...

"And the one in the brown hair over there is... Maven?" Filia gazed over to the hilltop to find the two had disappeared, "I guess they decided to leave..."

Xellos sat up from the soft grass, "anyway we should probably be going, the sun will be going down in a few hours, but their might be a town near this oasis"

Xellos held his staff in his hand testing his grip again, "I hope I get back in shape soon..." _Something back there really knocked me out..._

"Xellos..." the purple haired mazoku heard her call him, he noticed she had not moved from her place as he turned to see her, "Filia? Something wrong?"

Her face held a look of complete terror, "Help..." a tear ran down her face, her voice was pleading, "Filia, what?"

Xellos could only watch as Filia was slowly lifted into the air, she was crying out in fear until she was a few inches from the ground. With a sickening indescribable sound a hand pierced through her abdomen, Xellos watched, his eyes widened in shock as Filia was flung to the ground. As she lay blood gushed from her gaping wound soaking the ground, "Xellos..." she called out feebly before falling into unconsciousness...

"Filia!" he ran to her side gazing up into the sky as a familiar predatory voice filled his ears, "you see Xellos, all too easy..."

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Chapter Ten: Waste of Time end

Wow! This was almost torture to finally put down on paper... my longest chapter yet...

I hope that many of my fans have been patient enough to settle through my long delays in posting this chapter... I hope it is a good enough read for you all and that it continues to meet your expectations of me in the future... I love you all! **Collapses dead on keyboard of congenital heart failure...**

P.S I also hope you inform me of my dismal failures to you as they appear... so that I may grow as a writer and explore further the glorious career therein...

Next Up! Chapter Eleven: The Greatest Spell


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